President Donald Trump called on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil prices during the World Economic Forum on Thursday, saying it would immediately end the war in Ukraine.
The president, appearing virtually to the forum in Davos, Switzerland, called the war between Ukraine and Russia a war that “never should have happened.” He said that lowering oil prices could end the war “immediately.”
“I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election.” he said “That didn’t show a lot of love by them not doing it. I was a little surprised by that. They are very responsible to some extent for what’s taking place.”
Trump said throughout his campaign that he would seek to end the war in Ukraine. In Thursday’s forum he said he hopes to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon about bringing the war to an end. He added that he hopes China can help stop the war.
“I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended,” Trump said. “And that’s not from the standpoint of the economy or anything else. It’s from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted.”
“Ukraine is ready to make a deal,” Trump said. “This is a war that should have never ever been started. I knew that it was the apple of President Putin’s eye but I also knew that there was no way he was going in and he wasn’t going to go in. Then when I was out bad things happened.”
On Wednesday, Trump warned that the United States would impose sanctions against Russia if Putin did not reach a deal to end the war.
