EU Reluctant to Impose Oil-Related Tariffs on China and India

The European Union is not ready to slap tariffs on India and China for their continued buying of Russian oil, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed officials from Brussels.

The reluctance comes from the EU’s attitude to tariffs, which is one of caution, with tariffs only implemented after “lengthy investigations designed to provide a solid legal basis,” per the report.

“So far, there has been no discussion of tariffs, either on India or on China,” one of the unnamed sources told Reuters, adding that Brussels was just wrapping up a trade deal with India and did not want to jeopardize that.

Instead, the EU will continue with sanctions, targeting specific entities and individuals. Compared with tariffs, sanctions were the better bet, according to the bloc, because they were perceived as less risky for the EU. An earlier report this week from the Financial Times said European officials were discussing possible sanctions against China for buying Russian crude.

The report comes after earlier media coverage of President Trump urging the European Union to impose 100% tariffs on China and India if it wanted the United States to step up its own sanction pressure on Russia, as Brussels discusses its 19^th package of sanctions.

“We’re ready to go, ready to go right now, but we’re only going to do this if our European partners step up with us,” one Washington official told the Financial Times.

“The president came on this morning, and his view is that the obvious approach here is, let’s all put on dramatic tariffs and keep the tariffs on until the Chinese agree to stop buying the oil. There really aren’t many other places that oil can go,” the official also said.

Stranding Russian oil with tariffs or sanctions is a risky move that would inevitably push international oil prices higher, which may be one reason why the EU is so reluctant to resort to tariffs.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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