The Trump administration is willing to impose a “Ukraine victory tariff” on China to force it to stop buying Russian oil, if European nations are willing to do the same, Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, has said.
Russian oil exports to China provide a lucrative stream of revenue to Moscow that enables it to keep waging war on Ukraine. A general Western reluctance to punish Bejing with financial measures for its Russian oil purchases has long been a source of frustration for Ukraine, which has been locked in a grinding war with Russia for over three years.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Washington, Bessent said the administration was prepared to act but only in conjunction with Europe.
“President Trump has instructed the ambassador and myself to tell our European allies that we would be favor of [such a move] whether you want to call it a ‘Russian oil tariff on China’ or a ‘Ukrainian victory tariff on China’,” he said. “But our European allies have to be willing to follow.”Hinting at broad cross-party support for tariffs, Bessent added that 85 senators are willing to give “President Trump the authority to put up to 500% tariffs on China for the purchase of Russian oil.”
“We are told that the European Parliament will not pass a similar measure,” he continued. “All I hear from the Europeans is that Putin is coming to Warsaw. There are very few things in life I’m sure about, but I’m sure he is not coming to Boston. So, we will respond if our European partners will join us.”
‘Impose costs on Russia’
His words strike a similar tone to those of Pete Hegseth, the U.S defense secretary, who told some NATO defense ministers on Wednesday that “the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression.”This is not the first time the Trump administration has said it will act against Russian interests but only if Europe follows suit.
In September, Trump said he was willing to impose “major sanctions” on Russia, on the condition EU states stopped buying Russian oil and implement sanctions on China.
Critics of Washington have argued that making sanctions conditional on European backing is an excuse for American inaction. They claim that the Trump administration knows that, given that EU states such as Hungary and Slovakia oppose tough measures against Russia, it will be almost impossible for the bloc to get the unanimity it needs to act.