Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the West’s divide on how best to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction, and potential U.S.-Qatar security guarantees.
Differing Strategies
The United States urged its G-7 allies and European Union partners on Friday to impose a new round of “meaningful tariffs” on China and India for continuing to buy Russian oil. “Chinese and Indian purchases of Russian oil are funding [President Vladimir] Putin’s war machine and prolonging the senseless killing of the Ukrainian people,” a U.S. Treasury spokesperson said in a statement seen by Reuters.
Such secondary duties are part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest strategy to force Moscow to the negotiating table, with promises that the tariffs would be rescinded the day that the war in Ukraine ends. The White House has already imposed an additional 25 percent duty on Indian imports for the country’s actions, and on Tuesday, it urged the European Union to do the same.
“We’re going to have to come down very, very strong,” Trump said on Friday, adding that his patience with Putin is “sort of running out and running out fast.” The U.S. president notably stopped short of threatening new sanctions directly on Russia.
Trump’s tariff demands demonstrate a clear divide in strategy between Washington and Brussels. Whereas the Trump administration prefers to use tariffs on third-party countries to drain the Kremlin’s economy, Europe seeks formal sanctions on Moscow’s business and financial partners. The EU is currently finalizing a new package of sanctions—the 19th to be imposed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022—and on Friday, the United Kingdom announced sanctions on 100 Russian oil tankers, companies, and individuals.
“Tariffs are taxes” on domestic consumers, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly said, signaling the bloc’s opposition to such a strategy. Although the EU is currently debating whether to impose sanctions on China for purchasing Russian oil, similar measures on India could damage bilateral ties at a time when the bloc is hoping to ink a trade deal with New Delhi within the next few weeks.
According to a U.S. position paper sent to the G-7 and seen by the Financial Times, Washington is also demanding that Europe seize hundreds of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets. The EU has already agreed to use the profits from these assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort, but several member nations remain wary of seizing them entirely, fearing legal challenges and market instability.
Today’s Most Read
- Iran’s Foreign Policy Is Changing in Real Time by Sina Toossi
- Russia Just Attacked NATO. Again. by Christian Caryl
- Europe’s Delusions Over What It Means to Deter Russia by Franz-Stefan Gady
What We’re Following
Bolsonaro convicted. Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison after convicting him in a 4-1 ruling on Thursday for orchestrating a failed plot to remain in power. That scheme involved a coup attempt to overturn the 2022 presidential election, efforts to disband the courts and empower the military, and a plan to assassinate then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro was convicted alongside seven of his co-conspirators, including his running mate, defense minister, and Navy commander.
Thursday’s ruling marks the first time that Brazil—having experienced at least 15 coups and coup attempts since the overthrow of its monarchy in 1889—has ever convicted a leader of one of these plots. This is a “watershed moment in Brazil’s history,” Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso said.
The conviction deals a major blow to the country’s growing far-right movement, which has leapt to Bolsonaro’s defense and now faces an uncertain future without a clear party leader. Among those most upset by the ruling is Trump, who has previously called the allegations against Bolsonaro a “witch hunt.” Bolsonaro himself has been called the “Trump of the Tropics” for his similarities to the U.S. president.
In response to Thursday’s conviction, Trump told reporters: “I think it’s a terrible thing, very terrible. I actually think it’s very bad for Brazil.” As part of the White House’s ongoing trade war, the United States imposed some of its highest rates on Brazil for its actions against Bolsonaro, and analysts believe that further sanctions on Brasília are possible following the sentencing.
U.S.-Qatar friendship. Trump and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in New York late Friday to discuss the aftermath of Israel’s strike on Tuesday targeting senior Hamas leaders in Doha. The meeting once again signals Trump’s displeasure with Israel’s actions, a rare about-face for Israel’s closest ally.
Also on Friday, Trump and Al Thani are expected to discuss a U.S.-Qatar security deal, with the Qatari prime minister using Israel’s latest attack as well as Iran’s strike in June on Al Udeid Air Base, the United States’ largest military base in the Middle East, as rationale for the need of bilateral security guarantees.
However, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel on Saturday to reaffirm Washington’s commitment to Israel’s national security and reiterate the White House’s goal of freeing the remaining Hamas-held hostages. Nearly 50 captives are currently in Gaza, though less than 20 are believed to still be alive. On Thursday, Al Thani warned that Israel’s strike on Doha “killed any hope” of Hamas agreeing to a hostage release deal.
Enriched uranium status. Iran issued a rare public reference on Thursday to the whereabouts of its stockpile of nuclear material. In a state broadcast, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the remains of nearly 900 pounds of enriched uranium is “located under the debris of the bombed installations” that Israel and the United States targeted in June. Tehran’s Atomic Energy Organization is now “assessing whether these materials are accessible or not,” Araghchi added.
On June 21, the United States joined Israel’s 12-day war against Tehran by bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. Trump has since said that the U.S. strike “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, but experts suspect that Tehran may have moved its stockpiles before the attack. Iran has since suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), preventing the United Nations from assessing the extent of the damage.
Araghchi’s assessment comes as Iran faces a European-imposed deadline to address IAEA concerns about its stockpile or else risk reimposed snapback sanctions by the end of September. On Tuesday, Araghchi and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi reached an agreement intended to pave the way toward allowing the IAEA to resume its inspections in Iran. However, neither side provided any details on what that agreement entailed.
What in the World?
Ethiopia on Tuesday unveiled Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, which aims to double the country’s power generation and increase electricity access. But fellow Nile country Egypt is not happy with the development. Why?
A. Egypt wanted to have the continent’s largest dam.
B. Egypt will lose electricity customers in the region.
C. The dam threatens the Nile’s hippo population.
D. It claims the dam threatens Egypt’s water security.
Odds and Ends
Rather than risk human error, Albania is turning to artificial intelligence to make its public tenders process “100 percent free of corruption.” On Thursday, Prime Minister Edi Rama appointed Diella, an AI-generated bot, to be the country’s newest cabinet minister. Diella, which means “sun” in Albanian, will manage and award all government contracts with private companies in an effort to crack down on money laundering, which has been a primary obstacle for Albania joining the European Union.
And the Answer Is…
D. It claims the dam threatens its water security
Some 80 percent of the Nile’s waters originate in Ethiopia, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi writes in Africa Brief.
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The post The U.S.-Europe Divide on How to Hurt Moscow appeared first on Foreign Policy.
