War in Ukraine will end in 60-90 days if Europe imposes significant secondary tariffs - Bessent
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant has said the US would not impose tariffs on China's purchases of Russian oil unless European countries do so first, and expressed confidence that if Europe were more significantly involved in secondary sanctions, the war in Ukraine could end in 2-3 months.
" 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," Bessant said in a joint interview with Reuters and Bloomberg on Monday.
He criticized European countries that continue to buy Russian oil or oil products processed in India from Russian raw materials, arguing that they are helping to finance Russia's war against Ukraine. The minister also noted that the US has already imposed tariffs on Indian goods due to purchases of Russian oil, which has led to "significant progress" in negotiations with New Delhi.
Bessent stressed that European countries should take a more active role in reducing Russia's oil revenues. "We expect the Europeans to do their part now, and we are not moving forward without the Europeans," he said.
The Treasury Secretary said the US is ready to work with European countries to strengthen sanctions against Russian companies such as Rosneft and Lukoil. He also mentioned the possibility of using frozen Russian sovereign assets worth $300 billion. This, he said, could be achieved by first removing small parts of the frozen assets or by placing them in a special fund that could serve as collateral for a loan to Ukraine.
As reported, the US Treasury Department on September 12 called on the G7 countries and the European Union to impose "substantial tariffs" on goods from China and India to stop their purchases of Russian oil.
In addition, the US has adopted new export restrictions against companies that have helped Russia circumvent sanctions. The restrictions will affect Russia, China, India, Turkey, the UAE, Iran, Singapore, and Taiwan. US President Donald Trump raised customs duties on Indian goods by another 25%, bringing the total level to 50%, in order to force Delhi to abandon purchases of cheap Russian oil.
On September 13, Trump said that he would impose sanctions against Russia only when all NATO countries stop buying Russian oil. Trump published the letter, addressed to all countries, on his social network.
