“Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter, undermines WTO rules and is both unpopular and unsustainable,” Wang Yi said in a phone call with Celso Amorim, chief advisor to the President of Brazil.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang has condemned US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff imposition on countries, calling them a violation of international law and a danger to global trade stability. “Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter, undermines WTO rules and is both unpopular and unsustainable,” Wang Yi said in a phone call with Celso Amorim, chief advisor to the President of Brazil. Wang’s remarks came after Trump, in addition to the 25 per cent tariff announced last week, imposed another 25 per cent levies on India on Wednesday for purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties slapped on India to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world.
Sharing a quote from Wang’s conversation on X with Celso Amorim, Chinese ambassador in Delhi Xu Feihong wrote on X, “Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile…”
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Trump Warns India, China Of “Secondary Sanctions”
On being asked, ‘Indian officials have said that there are other countries that are buying Russian oil, like China, for instance. Why are you singling India out for these additional sanctions’, Donald Trump said, “It’s only been 8 hours. So let’s see what happens. You’re going to see a lot more…You’re going to see so much secondary sanctions, ” Trump told reporters during a press briefing in White House. He also hinted that US administation could impose “more” similar sanctions on China.
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On being asked, ‘On the Indian penalties, do you have any similar plans to enact more tariffs on China’, US President Donald Trump says, “Could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen.”
Trump has indicated that China could face secondary sanctions or additional tariffs for buying Russian Oil.
At a news conference in the White House, the US President was asked if similar secondary sanction would apply to China given that the Chinese are the largest buyers of Russian Crude Oil. The President replied saying, “It may happen, I don’t know, I can’t tell you yet, we did it with India and we are doing it probably with a couple of others, one of them could be China.”
According to data by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CERA) for June 2025, China has bought 47% of Russia’s crude exports, followed by India (38%), the EU (6%), and Turkiye (6%). CERA is an independent research organisation registered as a nonprofit in Finland.
With the US pushing the purchase of Russian Oil as a national security issue, there could soon be additional tariffs for countries like China, unless a peace deal is worked out with Russia.