US President Donald Trump, on his call with the coalition leaders on Thursday, said Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that he said is helping Moscow fund its war against Ukraine.
“The president also emphasised that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts,” a White House official told news agency Reuters.
Donald Trump’s latest move comes just days after Washington slapped an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports, penalising New Delhi for its purchase of Russian crude.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the Paris summit, which Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky attended. Others, like British premier Keir Starmer, participated remotely.
The extent of any US involvement remains uncertain, even after European leaders spoke to Trump via video conference following the Paris summit at which the “coalition of the willing” pledged its force.
The meeting represented a new push led by Macron to show that Europe can act independently of the United States after Trump launched direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump said after his call with European leaders that he would speak to Putin soon, with Peskov confirming on Friday that such a call could be organised swiftly.
Macron said the coalition and the United States had agreed to work more closely on future sanctions, notably on Russia’s oil and gas sector, and on China.
What Donald Trump told European leaders
“President Macron and European leaders called President Trump into their ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting. President Trump emphasised that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war – as Russia received 1.1 billion euros in fuel sales from the EU in one year,” the Whilte House official.
The European Commission has proposed legislation to phase out EU imports of Russian oil and gas by January 1, 2028, as Brussels seeks to sever its decades-old energy relations with Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Most European countries stopped importing Russian crude in 2022 and Russian fuel in 2023. It was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to crude imports by Hungary and Slovakia, which have continued, or imports of fuel made from Russian crude that is refined in third countries, such as India.
Trump also said in the call that “European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts,” the official said.
Trump has been frustrated at his inability to bring a halt to the fighting in Ukraine after he initially predicted he would be able to end the war swiftly when he took office last January.
He has withheld new sanctions on Russia and China, a top Russian oil buyer. But he has ramped up tariffs on US imports from India. Trump shrugged off talks this week between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but also said the leaders might be conspiring against the US.
(With inputs from Reuters)
