Washington: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Russia’s war in Ukraine will end if NATO countries stop buying Russian oil.
He also threatened to impose 50 to 100 per cent tariffs on China for its purchase of petroleum from Russia.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump revealed he had written a letter sent to all NATO nations, urging collective action against both Russia and China as the Ukraine war continues to drag for three-and-a-half years.
Slamming the continued purchase of Russian oil by some members of NATO as “shocking”, Trump said it had “greatly weakened” the alliance’s leverage.
“It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” Trump wrote to NATO members, saying that their commitment to win the war “has been far less than 100%.”
Trump said that a NATO ban on Russian oil plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”
He noted that China has “strong control, and even grip, over Russia”, and said that the tariffs he is imposing “will break that grip.”
China is the largest buyer of Russian energy, followed by India. Turkey, a NATO member, follows in third place. Hungary and Slovakia are other members of the 32-nation NATO alliance that purchase oil from Russia.
Trump blamed former US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the prolonged war. “This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR.”
Interestingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not named among the ‘culprits’.
“If NATO does as I say, the WAR will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States,” Trump concluded.
The Trump administration slapped 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India, and followed it up with an additional 25 per cent penal tax for New Delhi’s continued purchase of oil and weapons from Russia.
