As speculation grows that the European Union will team up with the United States to hit China with huge tariffs and secondary sanctions for buying Russian energy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Wednesday to escalate measures on “third countries”.
Without naming China directly, von der Leyen used her annual state of the European Union address to call for “more pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table”, asserting that “we need more sanctions”.
Overnight, stories from the Financial Times and other media said US President Donald Trump told European officials the US would slap 100 per cent tariffs on China and India for buying Russian energy – but only if Europe did the same.
“We are particularly looking at phasing out Russian fossil fuels faster, the shadow fleet and third countries,” von der Leyen said.
Several diplomatic sources, meanwhile, said early discussions had taken place about the use of secondary sanctions against companies from third countries that flouted Europe’s measures against Russia.
It is uncertain whether the EU could follow through on the demands as such a move would surely upend its relations with Beijing and bend global trading rules.
