Trump calls on all NATO countries to stop buying Russian oil, threatens 50% to 100% tariffs on China

BASKING RIDGE: President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes the Russia-Ukraine war could end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and the US imposed tariffs of 50% to 100% on China 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%,” calling the purchase of Russian oil by some members “shocking.” Addressing NATO members directly, 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 alliance members importing Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia.

Trump’s post comes after multiple Russian drones flew into Poland on Wednesday, entering NATO airspace. Poland shot down the drones, but Trump downplayed the severity, suggesting it “could have been a mistake.”

While Trump promised to end the war quickly as a candidate, he has yet to apply significant pressure and has sometimes been seen as reluctant to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. Congress is trying to get the U.S. president to support a bill toughening sanctions after Trump hosted Putin in Alaska last month, with talks failing to advance peace.

At an emergency UN Security Council meeting on 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 U.S. efforts to bring an end to this conflict.”

Britain also took action Friday, banning 70 vessels used in Russian oil transport and sanctioning 30 individuals and companies, including businesses in China and Turkey, that supplied Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives, and other weapons components.

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.” He suggested that NATO members impose 50% to 100% tariffs on China, removing them if the war ends.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he wrote, adding that powerful tariffs “will break that grip.”

The president has already imposed a 25% import tax on goods from India for its purchases of Russian energy products.

Trump placed responsibility for the war on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, notably excluding Putin, who launched the invasion.

His post followed a call Friday with finance ministers in the Group of Seven, where U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged their counterparts to present a “unified front” to cut off “the revenues funding Putin’s war machine,” according to Greer’s office.