Tariffs pose a risk to US-India relationship

Washington is hoping President Trump will spare at least one country from tariffs: India. President Donald Trump faces a deadline Sunday to decide whether to impose certain penalties on other countries under a bipartisan sanctions law he signed last month. Any move by him to waive sanctions on Russian individuals or entities will be met with criticism, as would a decision not to impose tariffs on China for buying Russian gas. But Washington is hoping he’ll spare at least one country: India. “Both the United States and India should not buy Russian oil and gas, but I don’t think simply imposing big tariffs on India is the way to get them to” reduce their purchases, said Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security. Punishing India for its reliance on Russian energy “would deal a body blow to the US-India relationship,” argued Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.