The United States is planning to bring a new Russia Sanctions Bill that will be an “economic bunker buster” against India, China, and Russia, US Senator Lindsey Graham said.
In an interview with an Australian news broadcaster, Graham stated that the bill proposes a 500 per cent tariff on countries that import from Russia.
The US Senator named India and China, both large importers of Russian crude oil, saying both countries are keeping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine going.
“If you’re buying products from Russia and you’re not helping Ukraine, then there’s a 500 per cent tariff on your products coming into the United States. India and China buy 70 per cent of Putin’s oil. They keep his war machine going,” Graham told ABC News.
He said the new Russian sanctions bill aims at bringing Putin to the table.
“My bill has 84 co-sponsors. It would allow the president to put tariffs on China and India and other countries to get them — stop them from supporting Putin’s war machine, to get him to the table. For the first time yesterday, the president told me,” Graham said.
Earlier, Graham had termed the Russian sanctions bill an “economic bunker buster against” China, India, and Russia for Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The two countries have been at war with each other for more than three years.
The Trump administration has been making efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. He has also spoken to Putin, but a peace deal remains elusive.