US senators have introduced legislation to impose tariffs of up to 100% on imports from India, China, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan over their purchases of Russian oil.
Besides tariffs, the legislation proposes sweeping sanctions on Russia's energy, financial and defence sectors.
If passed, it would mark the first time the US Congress explicitly authorises tariffs as a geopolitical tool.
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced legislation seeking to impose tariffs of up to 100% on imports from five countries, including India and China, for continuing to purchase Russian oil.
The bill, spearheaded by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, exempts 15 European countries that continue to import Russian gas. Lawmakers argued that these nations rely on Russia for only a small share of their energy needs and are taking steps to reduce their dependence on Moscow.
Besides India and China, the proposed tariffs would also apply to Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan.
"It's been referred to as a tariffs bill, but actually it imposes full blocking sanctions on wide swaths of the Russian economy, including its energy industry, financial industry, defence industrial base, oligarchs, business people, and Vladimir Putin himself," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told reporters on Tuesday.
"It imposes tariffs that are targeted: narrowly limited to the five major purchasers – up to 100 per cent – with waiver authority that is narrowly tailored and constricted. And those five major purchasers, right now, of oil are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan," Blumenthal said.
If passed, the legislation would mark the first time the US Congress has explicitly authorised the use of tariffs as a geopolitical tool to penalise countries accused of financing another nation's war effort.
An earlier version of the bill proposed imposing tariffs of up to 500% on countries purchasing Russian oil and gas.
Blumenthal stressed that "our European allies are not targeted here."
"It is very important to understand that we have so narrowly crafted and tailored and targeted this bill to aim at the major purchaser of Russian oil and gas," he said.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill, Republican and Democratic senators jointly unveiled the legislation as a tribute to Graham, the South Carolina senator who died in the early hours of Sunday.
Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama said Graham had worked "tirelessly, relentlessly" to build bipartisan support for the measure and believed it would become the most consequential legislation of his career.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi described the bill as Graham's greatest contribution to preserving peace in Europe.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged lawmakers to seize the "narrow window to pass the legislation."
Last month, the US proposed imposing 12.5% tariffs on 54 countries, including India, over allegations that they had failed to prohibit imports of goods produced using forced labour.
(inputs from PTI)
