Trump's Stance on Russia Sanctions: EU Official Reveals Uncertainty Among G7 Allies

President Trump has been advocating for tariffs on major Russian crude importers.

Brussels:

The European Union's sanctions chief has revealed to Reuters that while sanctions are evidently impacting Russia's economy negatively, US President Donald Trump is leaving allies uncertain about whether he will support additional measures, despite Washington being part of the G7 agreement to coordinate actions against the Kremlin.

During the previous week, the Group of Seven (G7) nations—comprising the US, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy—reached an agreement to intensify and coordinate sanctions against Moscow regarding the Ukraine conflict by targeting nations that purchase Russian oil and thereby facilitate sanctions evasion.

Although these countries weren't specifically identified, India, China, NATO-member Turkey, and others have substantially increased their purchases of Russian crude since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The United States has imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India to pressure New Delhi to cease its purchases of discounted Russian crude oil, bringing total punitive duties on Indian goods to 50%.

However, Washington has not implemented similar measures against other Russian crude importers. It also remains unclear whether Washington would endorse any further sanctions against the Kremlin.

"That's sort of the great unknown of the situation," EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan stated in an interview with Reuters.

"There are signs he (Trump) is losing patience with President Putin... but whether that will lead him to conclude that America should put additional sanctions on Russia is an open question," he remarked, adding that the U.S. needed to align with the rest of the G7 on sanctions after its earlier focus on achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine.

For instance, the EU, Britain, and Canada reduced the G7 price cap on Russian crude oil to $47.60 a barrel from early September, down from the previous $60, but the U.S. did not participate—a decision O'Sullivan described as "regrettable".

While Trump has been advocating for tariffs on major importers of Russian crude, O'Sullivan mentioned that many EU countries, along with Canada and Britain, are "less convinced" of their effectiveness and believe that pressure on ports, the shadow fleet, and refineries would yield better results.

Western powers aim to capitalize on Russia's slowing economy by cutting off more of Moscow's still significant revenues from oil and gas.

O'Sullivan expressed that he would welcome increased US pressure on EU members Slovakia and Hungary to end their oil and pipeline gas purchases—a contentious issue for the bloc. Meanwhile, the EU is seeking to accelerate the phase-out of its Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in its proposed 19th package of sanctions.

O'Sullivan affirmed that Western sanctions against Russia were clearly effective. "All the indicators in the Russian economy are flashing red," he stated.

"All of this demonstrates the extent of pressure Russia is experiencing due to our sanctions. However, they continually develop new methods of circumvention and strategies to bypass these sanctions, requiring us to close those loopholes."

Taking a Tougher Stance on China

With uncertainty surrounding the US commitment to additional sanctions, the EU is pursuing a parallel strategy by targeting Russia's key enabler: China.

The EU, Ukraine, and their allies view China as a central component in Moscow's sanctions evasion network, facilitating the flow of battlefield goods and advanced microelectronics used in drones and missiles.

Efforts to engage Beijing have reached an impasse as China denies doing anything beyond "normal trade" with Russia three years into the Ukraine conflict.

"For example, drones, which may technically be non-military until they're converted for military use—but... they don't accept that this constitutes circumvention," O'Sullivan explained.

"We are gradually beginning to address the issue of problematic actors in China."

Brussels has started including more significant entities from third countries in its recent sanctions. Its 18th package added two Chinese banks and India's second-largest refining complex, while the 19th package, still under negotiation, is expected to include independent Chinese refineries and central Asian banks.

"We see evidence that China serves as a platform for the import and re-export to Russia of quite significant quantities of battlefield goods... We would greatly prefer to have a more constructive, systematic dialogue with China, but thus far they appear unwilling," he added.