WASHINGTON: Finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations held a call on Friday to discuss tightening sanctions on Russia and imposing potential tariffs on countries deemed to be “enabling” its war in Ukraine. The United States pressed its allies to join in levying tariffs on buyers of Russian oil.
The meeting was chaired by Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who leads the rotating G7 presidency. According to a Canadian statement, the talks focused on additional steps to increase pressure on Moscow to end its war against Ukraine.
The ministers agreed to speed up discussions to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense, and discussed a “wide range of possible economic measures to increase pressure on Russia, including further sanctions and trade measures, such as tariffs, on those enabling Russia’s war effort,” the statement said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told finance ministers during the call that they should join the US in imposing tariffs on countries that purchase oil from Russia, Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a separate statement following the meeting.
“Only with a unified effort that cuts off the revenues funding Putin’s war machine at the source will we be able to apply sufficient economic pressure to end the senseless killing,” Bessent and Greer said.
Bessent and Greer welcomed commitments made during the call to increase sanctions pressure and explore using immobilised Russian sovereign assets to benefit Ukraine’s defence, according to the joint statement.
Earlier in the day, a US Treasury spokesperson called on G7 and European Union allies to impose “meaningful tariffs” on goods from China and India to pressure them to halt their purchases of Russian oil.
President Donald Trump has imposed an extra 25% tariff on imports from India to pressure New Delhi to halt its purchases of discounted Russian crude oil, bringing total punitive duties on Indian goods to 50% and souring trade negotiations between the two democracies.
But Trump has refrained from imposing additional tariffs on Chinese imports over China’s purchases of Russian oil, as his administration navigates a delicate trade truce with Beijing.
Bessent is due to travel to Madrid on Friday for another round of talks with his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, that will cover trade issues, Washington’s demands for Chinese-owned TikTok to divest its US operations, and anti-money laundering issues.
Trump earlier on Friday said that his patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin was running out, but stopped short of threatening new sanctions during a Fox News interview.
Trump expressed frustration about Putin’s failure to halt the war. He said sanctions on banks and oil were an option to increase pressure on Russia, but added that European countries also needed to participate.
“We’re going to have to come down very, very strong,” Trump said.
US urges G7, EU to impose tariffs on China and India for buying Russian oil
