New York/Washington, 13 Sept

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said NATO countries should impose 50 to 100 per cent tariffs on China and stop buying oil from Russia to help end the Ukraine conflict.

Trump’s post on Truth Social comes a day after the US asked G7 countries to impose tariffs on countries purchasing oil from Russia.

In his post, Trump said he is ready to impose “major sanctions” on Russia when all NATO countries agree and start to do the same thing and stop buying oil from Moscow.

The US president said that 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,” he said.

Trump said that he is ready to “go ahead” when the NATO countries are.

The president said that the 50 per cent to 100 per cent tariffs on China will also be of “great help in ending this deadly, but ridiculous war”.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful tariffs will break that grip,” he said.

Trump also said that the Ukraine war is “not his conflict” and it would never have started if he 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…If NATO does as I say, the war will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States,” he said.

The US has imposed an additional 30 per cent tax on imports from China while Beijing has responded with a 10 per cent tax on imports from Washington.

At one point, Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 per cent before the two countries agreed in May to end the tit-for-tat tariff war.

On Friday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the United States Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer were on a call with G7 finance ministers when they reiterated President Trump's call to the bloc's partners about imposing tariffs on countries purchasing oil from Russia.