This Week in Explainers: How US could force India to pay 500% tariff over Russian oil – Firstpost

India’s tariff concerns spiked this week. United States President Donald Trump has approved a bill that could increase taxes on Indian goods from 50 per cent to a whopping 500 per cent.

India’s neighbour, China, also keeps raising its worries. While relations between the two countries have improved in recent months, Beijing has continued its expansionist agenda. In a security red flag for India, China is increasing its permanent military presence in the disputed Eastern Ladakh region of Pangong Tso.

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The Supreme Court has granted relief to five accused in the 2020 Delhi riots case. However, it has denied the relief to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, who have remained in prison for more than five years.

More from Explainers Why is China calling Trump’s Venezuela strike a strategic gift? How China's stakes in Venezuelan oil complicate Trump's plan

Here’s all this and more in our weekly roundup from India.

1. Donald Trump has “greenlit” the bipartisan Russia Sanctions Bill, which empowers the US president to impose tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports. This means Trump will have the power to slap tariffs as high as 500 per cent on countries engaging in business with Russia’s energy sector.

Such sanctions would impact India and China, which have continued to import oil from Russia amid the Ukraine war. If this sanctions bill passes, India could face skyrocketing US import duties. But what’s in the bill? We explain.

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2. New high-resolution satellite imagery has revealed that China is constructing permanent structures near the buffer zone along the Ladakh border with India. Although they lie on China’s soil, they are quite close to Pangong Tso.

China is constructing innovative buildings near the military buffer zone with India at Pangong Tso, while the activity is within Chinese held territory, it consolidates Beijing’s physical presence post the 2020 border dispute & subtly recalibrates its territorial claims in the region pic.twitter.com/RSR6km5YHg

— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) January 4, 2026STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

These permanent ones are in addition to temporary constructions that China has erected since 2020 to accommodate troops, along with boats and a pier to facilitate movement across the lake. This is a huge concern for India. Find more in our report.

3. The Supreme Court rejected bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots case, holding them as the “principal accused” who had a “central and directive role in conceptualising, planning and coordinating the alleged terrorist act”. While granting relief to five other accused, the top court declared that all applicants were not on “equal footing as regards culpability”.

In a major observation, the two-judge bench headed by Justice Aravind Kumar noted that a delay in trial does not work as a “trump card” that “automatically displaces statutory safeguards”. Khalid and Imam are facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots. Here’s our report on why the SC denied their bail.

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4. Sexual abuse allegations have once again rocked India’s sporting fraternity. A 17-year-old national-level shooter has accused national shooting coach Ankush Bharadwaj of raping her at a hotel in Haryana’s Faridabad in December.

According to the girl’s complaint, the alleged horrific incident took place on December 16 after she participated in a national competition. She declared she was later called to the hotel by Bharadwaj to discuss her performance. The coach, a former pistol shooter, has been suspended by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) following the allegations. Read our story.

5. Nikitha Godishala’s murder in the US has sent shockwaves back home. The 27-year-old data analyst, who hailed from Telangana, was found dead on January 3 at the flat of an Indian man in Maryland, whom the local police declared was her “ex-boyfriend”.

Her father, however, denied this and reported the accused Arjun Sharma was only her former flatmate. Her family also alleged that he killed her because of financial disputes. Sharma fled the US for India after the crime and remains on the run. But who was the victim? Find here.

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6. Venezuela is facing uncertainty after its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife were captured by US forces from his compound in Caracas over the weekend. As the US raid in the South American country shocked the world, reports surfaced that Maduro is an ardent Sathya Sai Baba follower.

It was his wife, Cilia Flores, who introduced Maduro to the Indian godman. Known as the Iron Lady, she was a devoted follower of Sathya Sai Baba, believed by many to be the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. We take a look at Maduro’s India connection here.

7. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal is in the headlines again. This time, a minor device he was seen wearing on the side of his head during a podcast raised social media users’ curiosity. From “brainwashing” to “charging pads”, speculations were rife about the wearable.

The Eternal founder has been spotted flaunting ‘Temple’ earlier as well. He claims the device measures blood flow in the brain in real-time. However, experts are not convinced. Read more here.

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This is all we have for you this week. If you love reading our analyses, you can bookmark this page.

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