Trump’s Nato envoy warns China over ‘subsidising’ Russia’s war
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Nato ambassador Matthew Whitaker said the secondary sanctions are going to be significant.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – The US ambassador to Nato said China needed to be “called out for their subsidising” of Russia’s war in Ukraine as the Trump administration ratchets up its threat to impose tariffs if Moscow does not agree to a peace deal.
“China thinks they’re fighting a proxy war through Russia, and we’re seeing in some statements by the Chinese government that they want to keep the United States and our allies occupied with this war, so that we can’t focus on our other strategic challenges,” Nato ambassador Matthew Whitaker said on July 22 on Fox Business.
“China, I think, has miscalculated,” he added. “I think they need to be called out for their subsidising this killing that is happening on the battlefields in Ukraine.”
Mr Whitaker’s comments come a week after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tough economic penalties on Russia
Mr Trump has said he would impose 100 per cent tariffs, which officials have cast as secondary levies that would fall on countries who buy Russian exports such as oil.
China’s imports of Russian oil have climbed since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Washington and other capitals allied with Kyiv view such oil purchases as a form of tacit support for Russia, helping to bolster its economy and undercut sanctions.
Russia’s crude exports hit a one-month high ahead of Mr Trump’s tariff threat on buyers of Russian oil.
“The secondary sanctions are going to be significant. They’re going to hit countries that are buying Russian oil, whether that’s China, India or Brazil,” Mr Whitaker said.
Mr Trump has raised the prospect of tightening economic pressure on Russia before without following through, and trade analysts have said secondary tariffs would be difficult to implement.
The threat also comes at a crucial time in US-Chinese relations with a tentative trade truce between the world’s two largest economies set to end in August.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business on July 22 that he would meet Chinese counterparts for talks next week in Stockholm. BLOOMBERG
