White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said that US President Donald Trump imposed higher tariffs on India as part of efforts to pressure Russia into ending the Ukraine conflict.
Trump recently doubled India’s tariffs to 50 per cent, raising an additional 25 per cent on the previously announced 25 per cent duty. According to Leavitt, the move was intended as “secondary pressure” on Moscow.
“Look, the president has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He’s taken actions, as you’ve seen, sanctions on India and other actions as well. He’s made himself very clear that he wants to see this war end,” Leavitt told reporters.
Her comments came after Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, where both leaders described their talks as highly successful. Trump has also signalled openness to a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war.
Leavitt emphasised that Trump wants to “move quickly” toward peace and highlighted support from NATO and European leaders, who she said were encouraged by the progress made in recent talks.
“The president met with all of these European leaders at the White House 48 hours after sitting down with President Putin. They were grateful he provided them with a readout of Russia’s position, something that had not been done by the previous administration,” she added.
She also reiterated Trump’s frequent claim that the war would not have started if he had been in office, noting that European leaders and even Putin himself had agreed with that view.
When asked about ensuring peace beyond Trump’s presidency, Leavitt said he was actively working with NATO and European allies to establish long-term security guarantees.
“President Trump has invested an incredible amount of time, energy and effort into ending this war. He remains determined to achieve lasting peace,” she said.