Bessent says US won’t hit China with tariffs over Russian oil unless Europe goes first

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday the Trump administration would not impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods to halt China's purchases of Russian oil unless European countries hit China and India with steep duties of their own.

Bessent told Reuters and Bloomberg in a joint interview that European countries needed to play a stronger role in cutting off Russian oil revenues and bringing its war in Ukraine to an end.

"We expect the Europeans to do their share now, and we are not moving forward without the Europeans," Bessent said, when asked whether the U.S. would impose Russian oil-related tariffs on Chinese goods after President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25% duties on Indian imports.

Bessent said he pointed out in talks with Chinese officials in Madrid on trade and TikTok that the U.S. had imposed tariffs on Indian goods and that Trump has been urging European countries to impose tariffs of 50% to 100% on China and India to cut off Russian oil revenue.

He said the response from the Chinese side was that oil purchases are a "sovereign matter."

Bessent criticized purchases of Russian oil by some European countries, while others buy petroleum products refined in India from Russian crude purchased at discounted rates, saying they were helping finance a conflict in their own back yard.

"I guarantee you that if Europe put on substantial secondary tariffs on the buyers of Russian oil, the war would be over in 60 or 90 days" because it would cut off Moscow's main revenue source, Bessent said.

The Treasury chief said the tariffs on Indian goods over Russian oil purchases had brought "substantial progress" in talks with India. New Delhi and Washington will hold another round of talks with the U.S. on Tuesday amid a recent thaw in rhetoric between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bessent said the U.S. would be willing to work with European countries to consider steeper sanctions on Russian entities, including oil majors such as Rosneft and Lukoil, along with steps to prepare for greater use of Russian sovereign assets that have been frozen since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

This could be achieved by seizing small portions of the $300 billion in frozen assets to start, or placing them in a special purpose vehicle that could serve as collateral for a loan to Ukraine, he said.