Donald Trump presses NATO to end Russian oil trade, seeks 50-100% China tariffs until Russia-Ukraine war ends

US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was ready to sanction Russia, but on the condition that all NATO allies agree to completely halt purchases of Russian oil and implement their own sanctions.

Trump has written a letter addressed to all NATO nations, calling for collective action against Russia and China in the backdrop of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

In the letter, Trump said he is ready to impose “major sanctions on Russia” but only when all NATO nations agree to do the same and completely stop buying oil from Moscow, according to a post by the US president on Truth Social.

“As you know, NATO’s commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and 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?” Trump wrote.

Trump further proposed that NATO, as a group, should place “50% to 100% tariffs on China” until the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends, adding that such measures would break what he described as China’s “strong grip” over Russia.

“I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% tariffs on China, to be fully withdrawn after the war with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ending this deadly, but ridiculous, war,” Trump added.

The US president criticized the Biden administration, saying, “This is not Trump’s war (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s war. I am only here to help stop it, and save thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives.”

Concluding the post, Trump said the measures, if implemented, would help end the war quickly and save lives. “If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States,” he wrote.

Trump has repeatedly threatened Russia with additional sanctions -- including last weekend after the Kremlin unleashed its biggest-ever aerial barrage against Ukraine -- as a way to hit at the revenue Moscow needs for its grinding war.

But so far he has failed to follow through, frustrating Kyiv.

The president, who met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last month at a summit in Alaska, branded NATO nations' purchase of Russian oil "shocking" and said it weakens their bargaining power over Moscow.