President Donald Trump has set out a plan he says would “quickly” end Russia’s war in Ukraine, publishing what he called a “letter to all NATO nations and the world” that links any new U.S. sanctions on Moscow to allied governments halting purchases of Russian oil and jointly imposing sweeping tariffs on China. In a post on his Truth Social account on Saturday, the president 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,” adding that some allies’ ongoing purchases were “shocking” and had weakened the West’s bargaining hand. He argued that if NATO “does as I say, the WAR will end quickly,” and pressed the alliance to adopt tariffs of “50% to 100%” on China that would be lifted once the conflict ends.
The White House message, framed by the president as a “letter to the world,” expands on conditions he has repeatedly floated in recent weeks while threatening a tougher economic squeeze on the Kremlin. The post faulted allied commitment levels—“NATO’s commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%”—and warned that continued energy commerce with Russia “greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.” He coupled the oil demand with a call for coordinated, time-limited tariffs against Chinese imports, writing that “China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s timing placed the appeal against a tense backdrop in Eastern Europe, where NATO countries have reported a sharp uptick in spillover risks from the conflict. The president’s post followed incidents in which multiple Russian drones entered Polish airspace and Romanian authorities said a drone breached their skies during a major barrage on Ukrainian infrastructure—episodes that Warsaw and Bucharest described as escalatory. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the drone incursions were “an unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development,” while noting open questions about the drones’ precise targeting.
In practical terms, the proposal asks allied governments to coordinate two levers—energy trade and tariffs—that sit at the heart of their wartime economic policy. Trump’s letter said he believed the more than three-year-old war “would end” if all NATO countries stopped buying Russian oil and if the alliance collectively adopted 50%–100% tariffs on China for purchasing Russian petroleum, with those tariffs withdrawn after peace. He specifically singled out members that still import Russian crude, a group that has included Turkey, Hungary and Slovakia since the EU’s phased embargo and price-cap regime pushed most of the bloc away from seaborne Russian supplies.