India’s 50% Tariff Is a US Sanction in Disguise
Modi has three weeks to get the punitive levy reduced. Even if he succeeds, there’ll be no victory lap.
A collision course.
Photographer: Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images
Washington has taken its brinksmanship against New Delhi to a dangerous level. Doubling an already-high tariff of 25% is bad enough. What makes it worse for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the language. President Donald Trump has decided to call India’s additional punishment for importing Russian oil a “secondary” tariff, a made-up term that has a close cousin in the world of sanctions.
Secondary sanctions impose a cost on third parties for allegedly enabling bad behavior by someone else. If a US bank, port, ship, or company is prohibited from engaging in a transaction involving the Russian financial system, then a secondary sanction can make it potentially illegal for non-Americans, too.