Hours after US President Donald Trump called on NATO nations to impose 50-100 per cent tariffs on China to halt Russian oil purchases, China on Saturday hit back strongly, saying it neither plots nor participates in wars. Notably, China is one of Russia’s biggest buyers.
War cannot solve problems, and sanctions only complicate them, Wang Yi told a joint news conference with his Slovenian counterpart in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
In a letter addressed to Nato members and “the world,” 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. As you know, NATO’s commitment to win has been far less than 100 percent, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”
Trump urged NATO to act together and said he was ready to move forward once all members agreed on sanctions. “Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when?” he said.
The US had earlier imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil; however, it has not hit China with such sanctions yet, even as Beijing considers itself Moscow’s “all-weather” strategic ally.
Additionally, the US has been urging G7 countries — including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, most of whom are also Nato members — to step up pressure on Russia by imposing tariffs on India and China, both major buyers of Russian oil.
The US has been urging G7 nations to increase pressure on Moscow by slapping tariffs on China and India for buying Russian oil.
“Only with a unified effort that cuts off the revenues funding Putin’s war machine at the source will we be able to apply sufficient economic pressure to end the senseless killing,” US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told the G7 Finance Ministers, according to the joint statement.
