Trump is ready to sanction Russia if all of NATO stops buying its oil.

BarcelonaUS President Donald Trump opened up to imposing sanctions on Russia this Saturday in a letter to NATO countries. But his support for sanctioning Moscow comes with a condition: all NATO member states must first stop buying oil from Russia. "I am willing to impose significant sanctions on Russia when all NATO countries have agreed and begun to do the same, and when all NATO countries stop buying oil from Russia," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social network.

Furthermore, the leader proposes that NATO, as a group, impose tariffs of between 50% and 100% on China to weaken its economic ties with Russia. This is an idea, that of secondary sanctions, with which Trump had already threatened Moscow when he spoke of sanctioning major buyers of Russian oil, such as China and India. In fact, the US president has already imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian products, citing their continued imports of Russian oil, but has not yet taken similar measures against China.

Diverging strategies to pressure Putin

Trump has raised his tone against Vladimir Putin's regime after what seemed like goodwill for negotiations during the Alaska summit has soured and come to nothing. The largest attack against Ukraine since the start of the invasion, whichThe Kremlin launched on Sunday past, Trump's patience has run out, who is already discussing sanctions with European leaders.

While Brussels is shaping a new package of sanctions – which will be the 19th it imposes on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 –, this week there have been several meetings between European and US officials to discuss the proposed sanctions, which, according to sources Political, have to do with how to cut off the flow of Russian oil and gas. While there is consensus on the need to pressure Putin to sit at the negotiating table, strategies diverge: while the Trump administration prefers trade tools such as tariffs, the EU is pushing to impose formal sanctions on companies and financial institutions that deal with Moscow, according to the same sources.

Trump's proposal, however, is hardly acceptable to the rest of NATO members. Imposing tariffs on China or India is seen as shooting itself in the foot for the European economy in the eyes of most states. And, at the same time, halting the import of Russian oil would make Europe dependent on oil from the United States, from whom the EU has already committed to buying an additional $750 billion of gas, oil, and nuclear fuel. the trade agreement signed with Washington in August.