President Trump said he believes the more than three-year war in Ukraine would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian petroleum.
Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday a letter purportedly sent to NATO in which he said he is “ready to do major Sanctions on Russia” on the condition that all NATO countries stop buying Russian oil. The president said the military alliance’s commitment to winning the war in Ukraine “has been far less than 100%” and the purchase of Russian oil by some members is “shocking.”
“It greatly weakens your negotiation position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Since 2023, NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in purchasing Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia.
Mr. Trump’s letter comes at a tense moment in the conflict for NATO after the recent incursion by multiple Russian drones into the airspace of alliance member Poland. It’s being seen as an escalatory move by Russia and Poland shot down several of the drones.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump appeared to play down the significance of the incident, saying the incursion may not have been deliberate
“It could have been a mistake,” he told journalists late Thursday. A day earlier, Mr. Trump issued a brief reaction on his Truth Social platform: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”
The White House did not offer any clarification of Mr. Trump’s remarks and Poland’s most senior officials dismissed his suggestion it had been a mistake on Friday.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to end the war quickly. Some lawmakers in Congress are trying to persuade Mr. Trump to support a bill that toughens sanctions, after the president hosted Putin in Alaska for talks that failed to deliver on progress toward peace.
The president in his post said a NATO ban on Russian oil plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”
Mr. Trump said NATO members should impose 50% to 100% tariffs on China and withdraw them if the war that was launched with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends.
“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he posted, and powerful tariffs “will break that grip.”
The U.S. president has already placed an additional 25% import tax on goods from India, which he has said is to punish it for buying Russian energy products.
In his post, Mr. Trump said responsibility for the war fell on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As in past statements on the issue, he did not include in that list Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion.
Mr. Trump’s post builds on a call Friday with finance ministers from the Group of Seven, a forum of industrialized democracies. During the call, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on their counterparts to have a “unified front” to cut off “the revenues funding Putin’s war machine,” according to Greer’s office.
