The US Senate on Thursday voted 86-11 to approve the bipartisan Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The invoice permits Trump to impose 100% tariffs on items from international locations which can be among the many prime 5 importers of Russian oil and fuel.
China, India, Azerbaijan, Hungary and Slovakia are at the moment the highest 5 importers of Russian vitality.
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‘HOSTILE POWER’
Sareen, Senior Fellow at Observer Analysis Basis, stated the transfer must be seen as an indication of a longer-term shift in US coverage in the direction of India.
“That doesn’t imply that the financial relationship is completely gone. But when you’re going to begin imposing a 100% tariff, then the financial relationship doesn’t exist anymore,” he stated.
“The query is, what does India do about it? I believe simply as India has thought of de-risking itself from China, I believe India now wants to start out transferring in the direction of de-risking from the USA as properly.”
He stated the US below Trump, and probably even after him, might stay hostile in the direction of India.
“As a result of very clearly, the US below Trump, and perhaps even after Trump, will stay a hostile energy,” Sareen stated.
He referred to feedback by a US deputy secretary of state who, in line with Sareen, got here to India and stated: “We aren’t going to let India rise, and we cannot make the identical mistake we made with China.”
Sareen added that the US couldn’t really cease India’s rise and that the declare about China’s rise was additionally misplaced. However, he stated, “US believes that.”
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‘WILL THEY DO THE SAME TO CHINA?’
Sareen stated the important thing query was whether or not Washington would impose the identical tariff on China.
“I haven’t seen the textual content of the invoice. However typically, what we’ve seen is that these sorts of payments have opt-out clauses, the place the president can certify that it’s not going to implement this explicit legislation just because it’s not within the American nationwide curiosity,” he stated. “Now, they will surely have that opt-out clause.”
The international affairs knowledgeable stated the measure was not solely about India and China, as different international locations had been additionally coated.
“The query now could be, it’s not nearly India and China. There are three or 4 different international locations. Will the Individuals impose the identical legislation on China of a 100% tariff? And likelihood is that they won’t as a result of the Chinese language will retaliate,” he stated.
“We’ve got seen Trump impose tariffs on us, however not on China.”
RUSSIA SANCTIONS BILL
The Senate invoice seeks to punish Russia and international locations that purchase its petroleum merchandise, arguing that such commerce helps fund the warfare in Ukraine.
The invoice was renamed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who championed the laws, died on July 11.
Sareen stated the most recent transfer was a part of a broader sample. “The US has been taking these sorts of actions. Donald Trump had imposed a 25% tariff on India just because we had been shopping for Russian oil,” he stated.
The invoice would additionally prolong till 2031 the expiration date of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which penalises corporations that spend money on Iran’s vitality sector.
Sareen stated India ought to contemplate responding with comparable measures of its personal. “Possibly India ought to contemplate passing a legislation that any nation buying and selling with Pakistan, we are going to impose a 100 per cent tariff and have opt-out clauses. If the US can have these sorts of legal guidelines on Russia, we are able to have such legal guidelines on Pakistan,” he stated.
