Trump Renews Pressure on Europe to Stop Buying Russian Oil

(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump renewed his call for European countries to “stop buying oil” from Russia, a demand he’s linked to further US pressure on President Vladimir Putin to halt the war in Ukraine.

“The Europeans are buying oil from Russia — not supposed to happen, right?” Trump said in a dinner speech at Mount Vernon, Virginia, near Washington on Saturday.

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Trump has chided Europe repeatedly for its Russian energy purchases. On Thursday, after meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the US president said he’s willing to heighten economic pressure on Moscow “but not when the people that I’m fighting for are buying oil from Russia.”

While direct purchases of Russian oil by most European nations ended after Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, small volumes continue to flow to Eastern Europe. European nations also import diesel from India and Turkey, where Russian oil is refined into the fuel.

The EU has already passed a ban that will prohibit importing petroleum products refined from Russia crude starting next year, and the bloc is discussing banning imports of Russian liquefied natural gas from 2027.

Almost all EU member states have stopped buying Russian seaborne and pipeline oil. Landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, which import Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline, are the holdouts. The EU is considering trade measures to target those remaining supplies if Budapest and Bratislava don’t adopt exit plans, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

In all, the purchases account for only 3% of EU crude oil imports against about 27% before the war in Ukraine, European Commission figures show.

Trump on Saturday suggested that Matt Whitaker, US ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, increase pressure on Europe.

“They have to stop buying oil from Russia, Matt,” he said, addressing Whitaker in the audience. “Matt won’t let it happen much longer.”

With no end in sight for the war in Ukraine, Trump reiterated his frustration with the Russian leader, saying he’s “very disappointed in President Putin.”

Trump argued that the war would stop if oil prices are squeezed “a little bit more.”

(Updates with recent EU steps from fifth paragraph.)

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