US tariffs on Russia fuel inflation concern

Europe to pay higher price for new sanctions by Washington: expert

As the US moved to hike tariffs on hundreds of types of Russian imports as part of its economic sanctions against Russia and continues to pressure its allies to impose more sanctions, concerns are growing among Chinese analysts that the everexpanding sanctions would exacerbate already- high global inflation and disrupted global supply chains.

Europe, which has so far closely followed the US’ footsteps and is already suffering severe consequences of the economic sanctions, in particular, could further be forced to bear the brunt of the escalating USled economic war against Russia, analysts warned.

US President Joe Biden said in a proclamation released on Monday US time that the US government would raise the tariff rate on certain Russian imports that have not been banned to 35 percent. The White House has not released a list of specific goods subjected to the additional duties, but the list covers over 570 groups of goods from Russia totaling about $ 2.3 billion.

“Compared with recent sanctions, including freezing Russian assets and removing Russian banks from the SWIFT, the US’ latest move would have only a slight impact on Russia given small trade volume between the two countries,” Xu Poling, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences specializing in Russia’s economy, told the Global Times.

In April, Biden issued a proclamation to ban Russianaffiliated vessels from entering US ports, while banning imports of Russian goods such as oil, natural gas, seafood, and non- industrial diamonds.

“By continuously escalating pressure on Russia even at the cost of cutting trade ties, the US aims to force allies to follow its steps to impose sanctions on Russia,” Xu said on Tuesday.

The US might choose to only add tariffs on less important products imported from Russia, experts noted, warning other countries and regions, especially the EU, that rely heavily on Russia for energy and grains not to be misguided by the US’ political tricks to further fuel global inflation.

“The US will very likely skip over products such as palladium and neon gas – both are important materials for making semiconductors and the world depends on Russia for supply,” Li Xin, director of the Institute for Eurasian Studies at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

While the US reaps huge economic benefits from socalled sanctions against Russia, its allies have seen incalculable losses. By siding with the US in recklessly cutting Russian oil and gas, European countries have forfeited energy security and face significant difficulties in reviving a sluggish post- pandemic economy, experts noted.