13.9.2025
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50 percent to 100 percent for its purchases of Russian petroleum.
Trump posted on his social media site that NATO’s commitment to winning the war “has been far less than 100 percent” and the purchase of Russian oil by some members of the alliance is “shocking”. As if speaking with NATO members, he said: “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”
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.
Energy revenues remain the Kremlin’s single most important source of cash to finance the war effort, making oil and gas exports a central target of Western sanctions. But officials and analysts warn that aggressive curbs on Russian crude also carry risks of driving up global oil prices, a prospect that could strain Western economies and weaken public support for the measures.
Trump’s post arrives after the Wednesday flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland shot down the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incursion and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake”.
The US and its allies are seeking to show a firmer degree of resolve against Russia. At an emergency UN Security Council meeting Friday, acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said America “will defend every inch of NATO territory” and that the drones entering Poland “intentionally or otherwise show immense disrespect for good-faith US efforts to bring an end to this conflict”.
Britain on Friday also took steps to penalise the trading of Russian oil, including a ban on 70 vessels allegedly used in its transportation. The United Kingdom also sanctioned 30 individuals and companies, included businesses based in China and Turkey, that have supplied Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.
Trump in his post Saturday 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 that NATO members should put the 50 percent to 100 percent tariffs on China and withdraw them if the war that launched with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends.
“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he posted, adding that powerful tariffs “will break that grip”. AFP
