Trump Urges Europe to Cut Russian Oil Imports, Increase Pressure on China

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Thursday pressed European leaders to halt purchases of Russian oil that are funding the war in Ukraine and urged them to place economic pressure on Beijing for supporting the Kremlin’s war effort, a White House official told The Epoch Times.

Trump participated via a call in a summit of Ukraine’s top allies, the “coalition of the willing,” hosted in Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron.

During his speech, Trump pointed out that Russia earned about 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) from fuel sales to the European Union over the past year, revenue he said is helping sustain the Kremlin’s military campaign. He also stressed the need for coordinated economic pressure on China, accusing Beijing of assisting Moscow.

At the Sept. 4 summit, the coalition leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the shape of security guarantees that will be provided to Kyiv.

The summit in Paris, attended by nearly 30 leaders either in person or virtually, focused on what sort of military contributions they could make to Ukraine to deter Russia from attacking again, in the event of a final peace agreement.

The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, and several NATO member countries in Europe, as well as Turkey, Australia, and Canada, joined the summit.

Speaking after the summit, Macron said that if Russia continues to reject peace talks, there would be new sanctions in coordination with Washington.

The meeting comes as Trump’s two-week deadline for a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin nears.

Trump told reporters on Sept. 3 that he has no message for Putin but hinted that new sanctions could be on the way.

“I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand,” Trump said during a meeting with Poland’s newly elected president, Karol Nawrocki, at the White House.

After these discussions, Trump said that he would give both sides two weeks to explore the possibility of holding a bilateral meeting and making progress toward a peace deal in Ukraine.

“If a meeting in question is well-prepared and may potentially lead to positive results, we can have it, and I never turned this idea down,” Putin said.

“By the way, Donald [Trump] asked me, if possible, to hold such a meeting. I told him it was possible. After all, if Zelenskyy is ready, he can come to Moscow, and we will have such a meeting.”

“Putin continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals,” he wrote on X on Wednesday in response.

During his meeting with Nawrocki, Trump said that he also plans to speak with the Russian president in the coming days.

The U.S. president rebutted claims that he has not taken any action against Moscow, citing the recent tariffs on India for buying sanctioned Russian oil.

“Would you say there was no action that cost hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia? You call that no action? And I haven’t done phase two yet or phase three,” Trump told a reporter.

Trump recently imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on imports from India, raising the total tariff rate to 50 percent, in response to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil.

On Tuesday evening, Trump accused Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of conspiring against the United States as they gathered for a military parade in Beijing marking the anniversary of China’s defeat of the Japanese in World War II.

“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a message to Xi on Truth Social.