New Delhi: Washington has urged its fellow G7 capitals to follow its lead and levy tariffs on countries buying Russian crude oil – of which the most prolific are China and India – to deprive Moscow of its ability to continue waging its war against Ukraine.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent made the appeal to the US's G7 partners during an online meeting of the grouping's finance ministers chaired by current president Canada on Friday (September 12).

Bessent underlined US President Donald Trump's call to G7 members to impose tariffs on countries importing Russian oil “if they are truly committed to ending the war in Ukraine”, per a communique issued by his department early Saturday Indian time.

“Only with a unified effort that cuts off the revenues funding Putin's war machine at the source will we be able to apply sufficient economic pressure to end the senseless killing,” Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer were also quoted as saying.

Pointing to the US's own example of taking “dramatic action” against buyers of Russian oil, the duo said it hoped the other G7 members – comprising Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, the UK and the EU – would “join us in taking decisive action at this critical time”.

It also welcomed commitments by the other members to intensify pressure on Russia using sanctions as well as to “explore” using frozen Russian assets to Ukraine's benefit.

India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil after China, a fact that in part prompted Trump to impose a 25% punitive tariff on its exports – on top of a 25% ‘reciprocal’ tariff – in a move that New Delhi has termed “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”. It also said last week that it will continue buying crude from Moscow.

While Washington did not name China or India as tariff targets for the G7, the treasury department in statements to the media prior to the finance ministers' call identified the two countries as “funding Putin's war machine and prolonging the senseless killing of the Ukrainian people” before appealing to fellow members to impose “meaningful tariffs” aiming to end the war.

America also issued a position paper ahead of the meet advocating for immediate 50%-100% secondary tariffs on China and India in this regard and also called for action against entities in the two Asian giants that are ‘enabling’ and ‘profiteering’ from the war, the Financial Times reported.

On the other hand, G7 president Canada was more circumspect after Friday's call.

Finance minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement that while the grouping is committed to stymieing the Russian war machine and that its finance ministers agreed to “accelerate” discussions on financially aiding Ukraine, they had “discussed a wide range of possible economic measures to increase pressure on Russia”, including tariffs “on those enabling Russia’s war effort”.

It has been noted that Europe is reluctant to proceed with tariffs against China and India as compared to sanctions, including during Friday's meeting.

Earlier this month, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul when in Delhi took care to distinguish Washington's tariffs approach from Brussels's sanctions path to crippling the Kremlin's war effort, although he also said that the EU's goal is to prevent Russian oil from entering its territory, which has implications for India that refines and re-sells the crude as diesel and jet fuel to Europe.

Meanwhile, Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday called on NATO countries to stop buying Russian oil and impose 50%-100% tariffs on China, although he did not mention India.

He brusquely concluded: “If NATO does as I say, the WAR will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy and money of the United States.”

At any rate, the White House has singled India out in penalising it for its purchases of Russian oil – sparing for instance Beijing from similar punitive tariffs – and its officials have railed against New Delhi's import policy.

To-be-ambassador to India Sergio Gor too said earlier this week that the Trump administration highly prioritises getting India to stop buying Russian oil.

“Our tariffs work if our partners around the world are on the same page. If we’re unilaterally putting tariffs on someone but they’re able to buy the same oil and resell it through China, through India, through Brazil, that’s a problem, and we fully intend on fixing that,” the Trump loyalist had said before a US Senate committee on Thursday.

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