U.S. president Donald Trump, accompanied by commerce secretary Howard Lutnick (left) takes a question from a reporter in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Andrew Harnik)
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U.S. president Donald Trump has said he would be willing to consider tougher sanctions on Russia, provided NATO partners stop buying Moscow’s oil and meet certain other conditions.
In a statement posted on the president’s Truth Social, Trump said: “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 NATO’s commitment to win “has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian oil, by some, has been shocking!”, adding that it greatly weakens the alliance’s negotiating position and bargaining power,over Russia.
Trump added that the U.S. was ready to “go” when NATO partners are. And he didn’t stop there.
“I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% tariffs on China to be fully withdrawn after the war with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ending this deadly, but ridiculous war.”
He observed that China retains a “strong control, and even grip,” over Russia, and such powerful tariffs would break that grip.
Going Beyond Europe
The choice of directing the demand at NATO and not the European Union appears to be interesting, as it includes Turkey – a major buyer of Russian oil and natural gas. In recent weeks, Trump has also gone after India, another key buyer of Moscow’s crude oil.
The Trump administration previously placed tariffs of up to 50% on goods exports from India to the U.S. The figure included a 25% penalty for buying crude from Russia that the White House described as key source of funds for Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
Much of Trump’s focus and ire remains on European counterparts. However, EU reiterated their desire phase out Russian energy imports by 2028, at Gastech, a major global energy event that concluded in Milan last week.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told Gastech 2025 his country has its own strategic reasons for importing Russian oil and gas. (Photo: Attila Kisbenedek)
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However, the move is not going as planned with Hungary and Slovakia resisting attempts to wean their economies of Russian oil.
Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó told the same event his country does have alternatives to Russian oil and gas imports, but chooses to rely on Moscow for strategic, cost efficiency and infrastructural reasons, and not ideological ones.
However, following the Hungarian minister’s remarks, the EU’s energy chief Dan Jorgensen expressed his confidence that a deal to end Russian energy from entering the bloc – currently being resisted not only by Hungary and Slovakia but also Austria – will happen “quite soon”, and might come as early as 2027.
U.S. secretary of the interior Doug Burgum (left), and energy secretary Chris Wright speak at Gastech in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
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Internal wrangles within NATO and EU over the vexing subject of reducing energy reliance on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, come amid intense pressure from the Washington to buy its energy exports and ditch Moscow’s.
Two top Trump administration officials – energy secretary Chris Wright and secretary of the interior Doug Burgum – told Gastech the U.S is going to double its natural gas exports within five years if not sooner, and urged international allies to join Washington on the road to energy security.
The comments from the two top Trump officials come after the EU pledged to buy $250 billion per year worth of U.S. energy exports, including natural gas, for the next three years, as part of a wider trade deal in July.
The move has invited skepticism. However, both Wright and Burgum insisted its part of a wider, collaborative energy partnership with Europe.