Trump’s tariff warning to India is a big step toward shutting down Putin’s war machine

President Donald Trump is moving steadily and pointedly to making a shutdown of Vladimir Putin’s war machine a core goal of his tariff initiatives — with his tough talk on India just the latest sign.

Trump hasn’t yet called for passage of the Senate “secondary sanctions” bill that aims to slam the trading partners that help Moscow earn hard currency to fuel his assault on Ukraine, but the prez announced Wednesday that India will face a hefty 25% tariff plus other penalties starting Aug. 1 if it doesn’t reduce its vast trade with Russia.

Since India’s now Putin’s no. 2 trading partner, but can’t afford a facedown with Washington, that’s a huge step toward stopping the war.

It’s not just that New Delhi trades nearly $70 billion with Moscow, but what it trades: The West sanctioned Russia soon after Vlad began his war of conquest — but India soared from accounting for well below 1% of Russia’s oil exports to as much as 40%.

Quite apart from the Indian purchase of Russian arms (which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already signaled he’ll lessen), that’s a major economic lifeline.

Cut off Moscow’s energy profits, and Russia won’t be able to afford any more troops in 2026, forcing an end to the bloody war.

The India move follows Trump’s decision Monday to shorten his timeline for imposing new sanctions and his earlier move to send Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons via our NATO allies.

Putin wants victory in Ukraine, not peace, but Trump is carefully cornering Vlad into having no better choice.