Trump urges NATO to "pressure Russia with high tariffs on China"

As Russian drones appear in Europe

Poland and others declare 'highest alert'

Collective defense among NATO member states activated

U.S. President Donald Trump urged member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to stop purchasing Russian crude oil and to impose high tariffs on China to pressure Russia.

On the 13th (local time), President Trump wrote on social media, "If all NATO member countries agree to Russian sanctions and start sanctions and stop buying Russian crude oil, the United States is also ready to impose strong sanctions on Russia."

He criticized NATO for not being well controlled. "NATO's will to win was far from 100%, and it is shocking that some countries continue to buy Russian crude oil," he said. NATO member Türkiye is one of the major importers of Russian crude oil. Hungary and Slovakia also buy Russian crude oil. All are countries that do not politically distance themselves from Russia.

President Trump also argued, "If NATO as a whole imposes 50~100% tariffs on China and pursues a plan to fully withdraw them after the war in Ukraine ends, it will help end this terrible and absurd war." The implication is that even temporarily imposing ultra-high tariffs would be used as pressure.

He said, "If NATO does as I say, the war will end quickly," adding, "If not, it's a waste of my time and America's time, energy, and money."

NATO is facing growing Russian influence. According to the Polish government, on the 10th, 19 drones violated Polish airspace and 3–4 of them were shot down. Poland said a large number of the discovered drones were identified as drones Russia uses in Ukraine. Polish and Dutch fighter jets were deployed to shoot down these drones, and Italy's airborne early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft and Germany's Patriot air defense system were also activated.

Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west, is responding sensitively to the Russian threat. According to the Associated Press, the Polish military operations command said it had deployed national and allied aircraft to Polish airspace as a precaution on the day and called it a "highest alert."

Romania, south of Ukraine, also said Russian drones appeared in its airspace and scrambled two fighter jets. The Romanian Defense Ministry interprets this as Russia violating Romanian airspace in the course of attacking Ukrainian infrastructure with drones.

NATO launched a new mission named 'Eastern Sentry' (Eastern Sentry · Eastern Front surveillance alert) from the previous night in response to the Russian threat.

Washington = Lee Sang-eun, correspondent selee@hankyung.com