Donald Trump may well agree with Vladimir Putin, he gets impatient. The American leader, who dreams of quickly announcing a “deal” of peace, says he is disappointed and “very upset” by his Russian counterpart, who drags his feet to sign a cease-fire with Ukraine, multiplying the conditions-like the departure of the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he does not judge “legitimate” to negotiate.
If Putin continues to delay his plans, the billionaire will not hesitate to punish Moscow severely, by imposing “secondary” sanctions – customs taxes of 25 to 50 % – on all companies that buy oil from Russia, he threatens. Such a measure would heavily penalize countries like India and China, already worried about the price barriers established on American imports of steel, aluminum or cars. India became the first Russian crude oil buyer last year (which represents 35 % of its imports in this area), ahead of China. Even before Washington’s announcement of possible new customs rights against his business partners, on April 2 (that Trump baptized the “Liberation Day”), the Middle Kingdom was targeted by a 20 % customs surcharge targeting all its exports to the United States.
The same punishment could be applied to Iranian oil purchases if Tehran does not sign an agreement to end its nuclear program. In its own way (a slight tropism for customs taxes), the Trump administration revisits the principle of extraterritoriality, thanks to which America imposes its legal rules to the whole world. It is still necessary that the tenant of the oval office does not go back. “I think he will show up to what he told me. And I think he will now fulfill his share of the contract,” said the ex-businessman at the White House about the chief of the Kremlin.
New, this trend is not limited to geopolitics. Obsessed with its fight against “wokism”, the republican administration now prohibits European companies who want to respond to tenders from the federal state to apply diversity policies (based on gender or ethnic criteria). Several French companies have received letters in this sense.
How far will it go? Vice-President JD Vance does not hide his sympathy for European far-right parties and Donald Trump regretted the condemnation of Marine Le Pen. Possible reprisals tomorrow against countries that hinder the rise of their protégés are no longer science fiction.