The"important announcement" promised in recent days, when he said he was very"disappointed" by Vladimir Putin, has arrived. Speaking from the Oval Office, during a press conference also attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Donald Trump threatened – if a truce is not approved by September – 100% secondary tariffs for anyone trading with Russia. How do they work? These are essentially duties against third countries that have trade relations with the states targeted by the US. The aim is to isolate them and cut off their sources of income. In Moscow's case, the exports of hydrocarbons would be the ones to be hit the most. Under the Trump administration, the United States imposed secondary tariffs for the first time last spring to target Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela, accused of posing a threat to Washington's national security and foreign policy. Oil transactions were particularly targeted. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the US government granted itself the power to impose 25% duties on products exported to the US from countries that directly or indirectly buy Venezuelan oil. In Moscow's case, the tariff would reach 100%, effectively eliminating the third country's market share in the US.
It should be emphasized that this is a different measure than the usual"secondary sanctions" imposed against, for example, Iran and Russia itself. In that case, financial institutions that have dealings with blacklisted individuals or companies are excluded from the US financial system.
Trump had already threatened secondary tariffs against Moscow in March, but at the time the proposed rate was 50%. A bill is being discussed in Congress that would provide for secondary tariffs of up to 500%:"It could be useful," the tycoon commented, but"there won't be any need" and the 100% tariffs he can impose alone with his presidential powers will suffice.
However, it is legitimate to have some doubts about the effectiveness of the move, given that Russian oil is notoriously transported on ghost tankers in order to conceal the actual origin of the goods.
