U.S. President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO countries on Saturday, urging them to stop buying Russian oil and impose major sanctions on Russia to end the war with Ukraine.
Trump posted on his social media site on Saturday that NATO’S commitment “to WIN” the war “has been far less than 100%” and that the purchase of Russian oil by some members of the alliance is “shocking.”
“It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” he said, referring to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Trump said he believes the war — which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 — would end if all NATO countries stopped buying Russia’s oil and started placing 50 to 100 per cent tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian petroleum.
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.
Trump’s letter comes at a tense moment in the war after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of the NATO ally. Poland, with backing of military aircraft from NATO allies, shot down the drones.
It also comes as the U.S. Congress is trying to get him behind a bill toughening sanctions.
In his post, Trump said a NATO ban on Russian oil plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”
The president said NATO members who do put heavy tariffs on China should withdraw them if the war ends.
“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he posted, and powerful tariffs “will break that grip.”
The U.S. has already placed a 25 per cent import tax on goods from India for its buying of Russian energy products.
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening tougher sanctions on Russia following the largest overnight air attack on Ukraine since the start of the war. The attack targeted a main Ukrainian government building in Kyiv.
In his post, Trump said responsibility for the war fell on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He did mention Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s post builds on a call Friday with finance ministers in the G7, 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.
