I believe this was said to be secondary tariffs, which means that it's a tariff on imports to USA from countries that buy Russian oil. That makes a bit more sense, and would be useful in combination with sanctions.

Though Trump has constantly been changing his mind on tariffs, so don't hold your breath.
@ScottLucas

So the plan is to put tariffs on something that is illegal in the first place?

I'm not even trying to follow that line of thought. 😵‍💫

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-russian-oil-is-reaching-the-u-s-market-through-a-loophole-in-the-embargo

.

It is not illegal for e.g. China or India to buy oil from Russia. That is trade outside of the Western sanctions. However, Western countries can punish this trade by adding tariffs to other goods imported from those third countries.

It's hardly going to happen, but the idea is not that bad.

@ScottLucas

(Scott? You want to be in or out of the thread?)

🤔 But then it's just "normal" tariffs.
You can do that for whatever (real or made up) reason.

Countries will have no incentive to change their behaviour based on that. Especially in an environment where tariffs are already applied at will & there isn't any guaranty they will be lifted for "good" behaviour.

Sanctions on the other hand can suck big time. Germany just confiscated a russian "shadow fleet" vessel + cargo.

Yes, tariffs are tariffs, and "secondary tariffs" is not an official term. But it implies a motivation: that if they stop importing Russian oil, the tariffs will be ended.

While any country can impose tariffs, there may be international free trade agreements that regulate this. But Trump doesn't let agreements stop him, I suppose.

And I don't trust Trump to go through with an idea, even if it's good. I think he's just trying to look like a "negotiation genius".

@ScottLucas

I think we can meet @ "You need a crystal-clear strategy & plan to bring tariffs to work".

What you can't do is to say "I want tariffs for revenue .. ah and for protecting my industry .. ah and of course to force other players to comply with my intl. politics .. and domestic politics .. and to accept people I'm deporting .. aaaand ..".

That'll just lead to complete confusion and chaos.