Source: World Wide Web

According to U.S. Bloomberg news agency reports, in response to the U.S. demand for China and India to significantly increase tariffs on imports of Russian oil to pressure Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine, Japan's finance minister Kato Wisheng rejected on 16th.

¡°Japan has made a commitment within the WTO framework that as long as other member states fulfill their obligations under the WTO agreement, Japan will not impose tariffs beyond the prescribed limits and will treat all member states fairly.¡±

Image by Japan's finance minister, Kato Wishan (data map/foreign media)

According to Bloomberg, G7 had held an online meeting on the sanctions on Russia on the 12th, prior to the statement, and the United States urged allies to consider imposing tariffs of up to 100% on China and India on the grounds that the two countries continue to buy Russian oil.

According to the report, Katsunobu Kato's remarks show that Japan is still cautious about imposing tariffs on countries that trade with Russia, especially considering that Japan itself continues to import oil and liquefied natural gas from Russia. Japanese government data showed that about 1% of Japan's oil imports in June came from Russia.

Recently, the United States asked the Group of Seven and NATO member states to collectively impose tariffs on China on the grounds that China imports Russian oil, and urged China to play a role in ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in response to relevant questions at a regular press conference on September 15 that China's normal economic, trade and energy cooperation with countries around the world, including Russia, is legitimate, legal and understandable. The US approach is a typical unilateral bullying and economic coercion, which seriously undermines international economic and trade rules and threatens the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains. Facts have proved that coercion and pressure are unpopular, let alone can't solve the problem.

China's position on the Ukrainian crisis issue is consistent and clear, dialogue negotiations are the only viable way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.From the first day of the crisis, China has adhered to an objective and fair position, persisting in persuading and promoting talks.China is firmly opposed to the relevant sides to take Chinese words, and firmly opposes the abuse of illegal unilateral sanctions and "long arm jurisdiction" against China.If China's legitimate rights and interests are compromised, China will resolutely oppose and firmly safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests.

Extended reading

Trump says NATO imposes 100% tariffs on China: China can influence Russia

There is nothing to do with Putin, and Trump, who is "impatient", opens his eyes and engages in the mentality of allies.

After being exposed to successive pressure on the EU and G7 member states to increase taxes on China and India, Trump targeted NATO again. In the early morning of Saturday (13th) local time, he posted a message on his own social media platform "Truth Social" (Truth Social), demanding that NATO member states stop buying Russian oil and impose major sanctions on Russia.

The post, entitled ¡°a letter to all NATO countries and the world,¡± wrote that the United States was ready to take sanctions on Russia ¡°but provided that all NATO member states agreed and started to take the same measures and all member states stopped buying oil from Russia.¡±

¡°It is well known that NATO¡¯s investment in ¡®winning¡¯ is far less than 100 percent, and even more shocking is the behaviour of some member states to buy Russian oil!

The ball was kicked to allies, and Trump acted very free and easy. "Anyway, as long as you are ready, I can take action at any time. Just say whenever."

He did not forget to fool NATO into imposing tariffs of up to 100% on China, claiming that this move would help end the Russia-Ukraine war because China "has influence" on Russia.

In addition, he wrote, ¡°I believe that NATO as a whole should impose tariffs of 50 percent to 100 percent on China until the war ends and the tariffs will be completely abolished.¡±

¡°If you do what I say, the war will end quickly... Otherwise you¡¯re just wasting my time, and America¡¯s time, energy, and money.¡±

Bloomberg that Trump has been pushing for peace talks with Putin and has always rejected Russia¡¯s new sanctions, but in recent days, more and more signs indicate that Trump¡¯s patience with Putin is gradually running out.

Trump himself admits this. On September 12th, local time, in an interview with the Fox News program in the United States, Trump admitted that after the negotiations were "suspended", he was "a little" impatient with Putin's "quickness".

Trump received an interview on Fox News on December 12 (video)

Trump said on the program that when he first took office, he thought that the Russia-Ukraine war, which had lasted for three years at that time, would be the "easiest" international conflict to end; But now, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has become his "only unresolved conflict."

He added that he would treat Russia ¡°very harshly¡± but did not disclose the specific measures he would take against Russia, referring only to ¡°re-attacking Russian banks, oil and tariffs¡± to put pressure on Russia.

While making malicious remarks, Trump also spoke for Putin, saying that the deadlock in the negotiations was not one person's fault.

¡°It does take two to tango,¡± Trump said, ¡°the surprising thing is that when Putin wants to talk, Zelensky doesn¡¯t; when Zelensky wants to talk, Putin doesn¡¯t.

Before extending pressure to NATO allies, Trump has repeatedly urged the EU and G7 countries this week to impose tariffs of up to 100% on China and India in an attempt to force Russia to engage in peace talks with Ukraine.

The U.S. is moving forward, and its allies are shut their eyebrows.

Earlier, the Financial Times that EU officials were clear that it would be extremely difficult to impose such high tariffs on China and India, two important trading partners, given the impact on China¡¯s economy and the possible retaliation on China.

The EU hopes to convince the United States that similar pressure effects can be achieved through other measures. For example, tightening sanctions on Russian energy producers and advancing the deadline for EU member states to stop buying Russian oil and gas. The EU originally planned to gradually stop importing Russian energy by 2027.

The G7 will hold a meeting of finance ministers on Friday to discuss a new round of measures proposed by the United States.

A statement issued after the Canadian conference, which held the rotating presidency of the G7, said the meeting was aimed at discussing further measures to push Russia to end the war on Ukraine by increasing pressure.

The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that the ministers ¡°discussed a range of potential economic measures that could be used to increase pressure on Russia, including further sanctions, and trade measures, such as tariffs, against those who supported Russian war operations.¡±

But for Canada, the move is also in a difficult situation: in June this year, Canadian Prime Minister Carney launched an operation to restore relations with India, ending the two-year relationship cracks; at the same time, Canada has released similar goodwill to China, hoping to reduce its excessive economic dependence on the United States.

The picture shows Canadian Prime Minister Carney (data map)

China has repeatedly stressed that China will take reasonable energy security measures based on its own national interests, and that there are no winners in the tariff war, and that coercion and pressure cannot solve the problem.