Donald Trump says he’s ready to hit Moscow with sweeping new sanctions—but only if NATO countries cut off their oil purchases from Russia.
In a post on his Truth Social platform Saturday, the US president argued that the Russia-Ukraine war could be brought to an end if NATO members stopped buying Russian oil and if China faced heavy tariffs—between 50% and 100%—for continuing to import it.
“As you know, NATO’s commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%,” Trump wrote. “The purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia. Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when?”
Since 2023, Turkey has been the third-largest buyer of Russian oil, behind only China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Other NATO members, including Hungary and Slovakia, are also still buying.
Trump’s remarks came just days after Russian drones entered Polish airspace—a serious provocation against a NATO ally. Poland shot them down, but Trump downplayed the event, suggesting it “could have been a mistake.”
US secretary of state Marco Rubio took a harder line, calling the drone incursion “unacceptable, unfortunate, and dangerous.” He warned that if it was intentional, it would be a major escalation.
While Trump campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war, he has faced criticism for not pressuring Russia strongly enough. Just last month, he hosted Vladimir Putin in Alaska for talks that went nowhere. Congress is now pushing him to support tougher sanctions.
Meanwhile, US allies are stepping up. Britain recently banned 70 vessels suspected of transporting Russian oil and sanctioned 30 individuals and companies tied to Moscow’s weapons supply chain.
Trump insists that cutting off Russian oil purchases and slapping huge tariffs on China would “END this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.” He also argued that China has a “strong grip” on Russia and that tariffs would break it.
The president has already imposed a 25% import tax on India over its Russian oil imports, though he has signaled he’s willing to negotiate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trade tensions with China remain more fraught—earlier this year, Trump’s steep tariffs nearly froze commerce between the two superpowers before both sides eased up slightly.
In his Saturday post, Trump again blamed his predecessor Joe Biden, as well as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, for the ongoing conflict—pointedly leaving Putin off the list.
The comments follow a Friday call with G7 finance ministers, where US officials urged allies to form a “unified front” to choke off Russia’s war funding. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, Wikimedia commons.