U.S. President Donald Trump said he is ready to impose “major sanctions” on Moscow if NATO members stop purchasing Russian oil.
In a letter to alliance members, which he published on his social network Truth Social, Trump wrote: “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.”
He added that oil purchases by NATO states have been “shocking,” arguing that it “greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”
Trump said he believes ending Russian oil purchases, combined with the imposition of tariffs on China of 50 percent to 100 percent — by NATO members and the U.S. — would help bring an end to what he called a “ridiculous war.”
Trump, promised in his election campaign that he would end the war within a day, concluded his statement Saturday by saying that if NATO followed his plan, the war would “end quickly.”
Just this week, several European leaders were confident that they had convinced Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in ending the war and has to be forced to the negotiating table, officials and diplomats told POLITICO. In a flurry of diplomatic visits, the leaders discussed new financial restrictions and plans to cut off the flow of Russian oil and gas.
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