US President Donald Trump told Fox News that Washington should not be asked to impose sanctions on China for buying Russian oil, while Europe is buying it.
“If Europe does something about China, I think China will probably make an effort to end the Ukrainian conflict“, Trump said after a question about the possibility of the US imposing sanctions on China for buying Russian oil. The US president added that if European countries imposed similar restrictions, he would also “do something“.
“It is unacceptable for Europe to buy oil from Russia and for me to be upset that China is buying oil from Russia“, Trump said.
Trump believes that sanctions by Washington's allies, including European ones, against China could affect the peace settlement, since China is “the largest buyer of Russian oil“. He added that he believes that Beijing “has other“ levers of influence over Moscow.
The US leader called the situation in which Europe buys Russian oil “not ideal“. “They did it quietly and insidiously“, he continued. “If you want to win, don't buy oil from Russia. We'll see where that takes you," Trump concluded.
He said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed with his statements about the need for the United States' European allies to stop buying Russian oil.
"He said that's not good," Trump said, answering questions from reporters aboard his plane after departing Britain for the United States. "Starmer agreed that they should stop buying oil from Russia," the US leader added.
Trump, speaking earlier at a joint news conference with Starmer at the British prime minister's country residence, Chequers, said he was not prepared to impose new sanctions on Moscow while European countries continued to buy oil from Russia.
Trump expressed doubt that the time had come for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
"It doesn't look like it," he told the White House press conference aboard his plane after departing Britain for the US. "But at the right time, we will have to do it. It will be difficult,“ Trump added.
The United States is ready to help maintain peace in Ukraine after the conflict is resolved, including with air support, Trump continued.
“Once the war is resolved, we will help maintain peace,“ he said. “When I said air support, I was talking about security after the conflict is resolved.“
The American leader noted that Washington is supporting Kiev by providing intelligence.
Trump also expressed confidence in achieving a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis in the end.
“We will do it one way or another“, the US president said.
Trump expressed "hope" that the incident with drones in Poland was caused by "loss of control".
“I can't say whether it was a mistake or not. Let's face it: they shouldn't have been there. They were probably damaged. "Hopefully," he said in an interview with Fox News.
Trump added that the drones "were shot down and landed in Polish territory." "They shouldn't have gone there anyway," he said.
The US president revealed that in conversations with the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, he expressed his belief that he could one day become the next American leader.
"I said, 'Charlie, I think you have a good chance of being president one day, I think you might be president,'" he said.