Trump waives 100% tariffs on the biggest buyers of Russian oil, sparing India and China, hours before they took effect

US President Donald Trump has waived the new sanctions and tariffs on the largest buyers of Russian oil that were due to start this weekend, sparing countries such as China, India and Turkey from 100% US tariffs, CBS News reported on Saturday. The executive order also suspends the law's 500% tariffs on Russian goods and halts some other Russia sanctions.

What was waived

The measures come from the Sanctioning Russia Act, a bipartisan bill Trump signed into law last month. It set:

• 100% tariffs on the world's five largest importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas, due to take effect on Sunday;
• 500% tariffs on Russian goods;
• a set of further sanctions on Russia.

The law lets the president suspend parts of it if he certifies to Congress that doing so is "in the national interests of the United States." Trump did that in an executive order and said Congress had been notified. The waivers stay until officials "determine that further action is appropriate," and agencies were told to keep monitoring countries that import Russian energy or help Russia evade sanctions.

A week earlier Trump had eased sanctions on Russian diesel and announced a deal with President Vladimir Putin to bring Russian diesel into the US market.

Why he did it

According to CBS, Trump wants to bring oil prices down. Prices are still high after spiking during the Iran war, and a 100% tariff on Russian oil's biggest customers would have pushed those buyers to compete for other supplies.

Reaction

• Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky called the decision "unfortunate," saying the law "could have helped enormously" and that easing pressure encourages Russia to keep attacking.
• Russia: Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy to Putin, called the suspension "an important and truly historic moment."
• US Senate: a bipartisan group of senators had already called the diesel waivers a "betrayal of the people of Ukraine" and urged Trump to enforce the law.

What it means for India and for Pakistan

India is one of the largest buyers of Russian crude, so the waiver removes the threat of a 100% US tariff on Indian exports.

Pakistan buys very little Russian oil, so there is no direct tariff effect here. The indirect effect is on prices: anything that keeps more oil on the world market tends to cool crude prices, and Pakistan's petrol and diesel prices follow international prices through the fortnightly review. You can follow the latest readings on our petrol price page and diesel price page, and work out what a month of driving costs with the fuel cost calculator.