Thank you to Valentina Pasquali for inviting me to comment for AGBI – Arabian Gulf Business Insight on the pressure by the US on the EU and G7 to apply secondary tariffs on India, and what it means for Gulf nations.
In her article “Trump’s tariff plays make for unpredictable partnerships“, I commented that “there is now lots of pressure on Indian refiners to stop or reduce buying Russian oil and go back to more traditional Gulf suppliers”, adding that “Trump’s request of its G7 allies triggers concerns in GCC states that they too may be “weaponised” by the US as it goes after Russia, China, India or whoever else“.
I also said that GCC economies “are smart enough to understand the US priorities but also what China brings that is of absolute necessity for their diversification and development, so they are able to try to strike a very delicate balance”, but I went on to nuance this picture: “Can they strike that balance every time? There might be some cases where, no, you’re gonna have to make a choice”.
Read the full article here.
Picture credits: Reuters
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