Europe chose sanctions not tariffs to pressurise Russia: German minister

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday underlined that Europe’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine has focussed on sanctions rather than tariffs, saying the goal is to push Moscow to the negotiating table.

“We have not used tariffs, but we have used sanctions on Russia to ensure that Russia, which has to fund its war, will be able to do this less so,” Wadephul said in New Delhi. Wadephul is on an official two-day visit to India.

He stressed that Berlin and the wider European Union want “to do whatever we can to make President Putin sit down at the negotiating table,” noting that Kyiv has already shown readiness to talk. “The only demand is that weapons fall silent. No more than that. And I think that is a reasonable precondition,” he said.

"We have right from the outset been pursuing a policy that has the objective of Russia and Ukraine following the path of negotiations. However, what we have noticed of late is that despite the enormous efforts that the American president has invested, Russia has not been willing to sit down at the negotiating table, whereas the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has expressed his immediate readiness to negotiate and sit down at the negotiation table," Wadephul said.

He pointed out that the "German approach and the European approach" was to bring Putin to the negotiating table and they have used sanctions and not tariffs to pressurise Russia.

The remarks came against the backdrop of growing tensions over trade. The US recently doubled tariffs on Indian goods, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian crude. India has criticised the US for what it calls unfair targeting of its Russian oil imports.

Germany’s push for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is also expected to be discussed at a meeting of nearly 30 countries this week, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to propose Geneva as a venue for possible ceasefire talks.

As global efforts continue to negotiate an end to Russia’s three-and-a-half-year war, Kyiv is seeking security assurances to prevent future Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, Wadephul met Jaishankar on Wednesday. During the talks, Jaishankar pressed for faster progress in the long-pending India-EU free trade agreement, stalled for years over differences on tariffs, green rules, and labour standards.

“We count on your support to deepen our relationship with the European Union and expedite the FTA negotiation,” Jaishankar told Wadephul.

Jaishankar also called for doubling bilateral trade with Germany, particularly in the defence and security sectors. Wadephul, for his part, said he was optimistic the deal could be wrapped up “in the coming months”.

- Ends