US President Donald Trump urged NATO and European countries to adopt a tougher stance against Russia, specifically criticising Europe for still purchasing oil from Moscow.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said, “They’re not doing the job. NATO has to get together. Europe has to get together. Europe is my friend, but Europe is buying oil from Russia. I don’t want them to buy oil. And the sanctions that they’re putting on are not tough enough. And I’m willing to do sanctions, but they’re going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I’m doing.”
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“Just to clarify, you wouldn’t move ahead until NATO moves ahead. Well, I’m ready to move ahead, but they have to do it. But right now they’re talking and they’re not doing. Look, they’re buying oil from Russia. We’re not buying oil from Russia. They’re buying a lot of oil from Russia. That’s not the deal,” he added.
He also criticised European nations for continuing to import liquefied natural gas from Russia. “It’s not the deal, though. The deal is they’re not supposed whether it’s natural gas or whether it’s cigarettes, I don’t care. They’re not supposed to be buying from Russia,” he added.
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When asked about holding a summit to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, he affirmed, “Whether you call it a summit or just a get together, doesn’t matter, but I’ll probably have to get they to hate each other so much they almost can’t talk. They’re incapable of talking to each other.”
Recently, Trump wrote a letter to NATO nations, stating, “I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
Further, Trump proposed that NATO impose tariffs of 50 per cent to 100 per cent on China. “I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50 per cent to 100 per cent TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR,” Trump wrote. “China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
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Trump also slammed the previous administration, saying, “This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I were 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 (7,118 lives lost last week, alone. CRAZY!).”
The Trump administration has imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on India, including a 25 per cent tariff specifically targeting Delhi’s imports of Russian oil, among the steepest levied on any country globally.
India has condemned the move as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable.”
In response, India has defended its continued purchase of Russian crude, stating that its energy decisions are guided by national interests and market conditions.
The POTUS had attributed his heavy tariff move to India being a ‘vast majority’ buyer of military equipment and crude oil from Russia. Trump, in a social media post, also claimed that India, in one way, has been enabling Russia in the war against Ukraine through the oil purchases.
