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regular-article-logo Wednesday, 06 August 2025

Trump says he ‘doesn’t know anything’ about US imports of Russian goods; Kremlin says mending ties will take time

Trump, clarifying he hadn’t specified a percentage when asked about imposing 100% tariffs on all countries buying Russian energy including China, said, 'We’ll be doing quite a bit of that. We'll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time'

Our Web Desk Published 06.08.25, 11:35 AM
Donald Trump

Donald Trump File picture

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was unaware of American imports of Russian uranium, fertilisers and chemicals, even as the Kremlin noted that improving strained bilateral ties would take time.

Responding to a question on India’s statement about U.S. purchases of these commodities, Trump said, “I don't know anything about it. I'd have to check, but we'll get back to you on that,” adding that he would soon decide on tariffs for nations buying Russian energy.

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Trump has threatened to “substantially” raise tariffs on India, accusing it of purchasing massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for “big profits”.

Earlier on Tuesday, he told CNBC that India had not been a good trading partner and that he was “going to raise” tariffs on New Delhi “very substantially over the next 24 hours” because it was “fuelling the Ukraine war machine.”

India on Monday sharply rejected the criticism from the U.S. and the European Union, calling the targeting of its Russian crude procurement “unjustified and unreasonable” and accusing them of double standards.

“Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, noting that Europe’s imports from Russia include “energy, fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel, and machinery and transport equipment.”

"Where the US is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals," the MEA said. "In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable."

In response to another question about his threat to impose 100% tariffs on all countries buying Russian energy, including China, Trump said he had not specified a percentage but added, “We’ll be doing quite a bit of that. We'll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time.”

Trump also said the U.S. has a “meeting with Russia” on Wednesday, without elaborating.

According to the Kremlin, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected in Moscow for talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS, “There is, of course, inertia in this process. It takes time for efforts to bring bilateral relations back onto a normal track.” TASS noted that for the first time in modern Russian history, more than six months have passed since a U.S. president’s inauguration without a summit with the Russian leader.

Tensions between the two countries have escalated in recent weeks. Trump said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in “the appropriate regions” after remarks by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. He has also issued an ultimatum to President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine and a formal peace agreement by Aug. 8, threatening new sanctions and 100% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil if the demand is not met.

At a separate event where he signed an executive order establishing a White House Olympics Task Force for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Trump repeated his claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan — a statement New Delhi says is inaccurate, asserting the understanding came through direct talks between the two militaries’ Directors General of Military Operations.

“I stopped five wars in the last five months,” Trump said. “This is the one I’m trying to stop. This is the one we’re working hardest on,” he added, referring to the Ukraine conflict.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said it was up to Trump to decide how to deal with “those nations that are facilitating this war on Ukraine.”

On India’s stance that it would not change its Russian oil imports, she said, “I will not characterise or remark on another nation’s comments about what they will or will not do… But I do know that, of course, President Trump understands the entire field, and he has made it very clear he doesn’t like what’s been happening.”

She added that Washington was considering secondary sanctions against countries, companies or others doing business with Russia in defiance of U.S. sanctions.

With inputs from agencies

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