President Trump on Saturday set conditions for imposing new sanctions on Russia, saying he would do so only if all NATO member nations did the same and also stopped buying Russian oil and imposed steep tariffs on China.
They were the latest in a series of new conditions that Mr. Trump had announced before he would agree on punitive action against Russia, which has accelerated its aggression against Ukraine despite a summit that Mr. Trump held with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a month ago in Alaska. None of the steps Mr. Trump had said were required to begin an end to the war — including a negotiation between Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — have taken place, or appear imminent.
Since then, Russia has tested NATO defenses in new ways. Early Wednesday morning, Russian drones were shot down by Polish and NATO forces after they flew deep into Poland’s airspace, a level of escalation that has alarmed European leaders. Yet Mr. Trump portrayed NATO as not doing enough to combat Russia’s moves. Ten days ago, the Pentagon confirmed that it was planning to end a program that trained and assisted NATO forces in the Baltics, right on Russia’s border.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote on his website, 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!” he continued. “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia. Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when?”
He also called for the countries to collectively put tariffs of 50 percent to 100 percent on China. Without that, he said, the NATO nations are “wasting” the United States’ time.
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The post Trump Says He Will Impose More Sanctions on Russia if NATO Does appeared first on New York Times.
