US President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to impose tariffs of up to 100% on imports from China and India as part of an effort to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, a source familiar with the discussions told the BBC.
The demand was made during a meeting between US and EU officials on Tuesday to discuss options for increasing economic pressure on Russia, according to the source and reporting first published by the Financial Times. The proposal comes as Mr. Trump continues to seek a negotiated end to the conflict and as Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified in recent days.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he plans to speak with Mr. Putin later this week or early next week. He said he was "not happy with the whole situation" following a wave of attacks over the weekend that Ukrainian officials described as the heaviest aerial bombardment since the war began. Ukraine reported that Russian forces used at least 810 drones and 13 missiles in the recent strikes and that the main government building in Kyiv was struck by a missile. More than 20 civilians were killed on Tuesday in the eastern Donbas region by what officials said was a Russian glide bomb while they queued to collect pensions.
The request for sweeping tariffs from the US follows comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Washington was prepared to escalate economic pressure on Russia but needed stronger European backing. A senior US move to press the EU to impose punitive trade levies on China and India would represent a marked shift from the bloc's current approach, which has focused mainly on sanctions and efforts to cut reliance on Russian energy.
China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil, purchases that have helped sustain the Russian economy since the invasion of Ukraine. The EU has said it aims to end its dependency on Russian energy, but around 19% of the bloc's natural gas imports still come from Russia.
Last month the United States imposed a 50% tariff on goods from India, which included a 25% penalty tied to some transactions with Russia. Mr. Trump also said on Tuesday that the US and India were "continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers" between the two countries and that he planned to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming weeks, writing on his Truth Social platform that he expected a "successful conclusion" to the talks.
A highly anticipated summit between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin in Alaska last month ended without a peace deal. While the US president has on multiple occasions threatened harsher measures against Moscow, previous deadlines and threats of sanctions were not followed by immediate action when they were ignored by the Kremlin.
Any move by the EU to adopt the proposed 100% tariffs would require agreement among member states and would mark a departure from its current sanctions-led strategy. Officials in Brussels, Beijing and New Delhi had not issued immediate public responses to the BBC report.