President Donald Trump returned to a familiar refrain Tuesday, warning the world’s diplomats at the United Nations that Europe’s energy ties to Moscow are not just unwise, but self-destructive.
In a speech that swung between mockery and menace, Trump scolded NATO allies for “funding the war against themselves.”
“Who the hell ever heard of that one?” he asked, drawing out the incredulity for effect.
The president said that while China and India remain the “primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil,” NATO partners have failed, “inexcusably,” to sever their own ties. “Even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products, which, as you know, I found out about two weeks ago, and I wasn’t happy.”
It was a sharp rebuke aimed at the familiar holdouts — Hungary, Slovakia, France, Belgium and Spain — nations that still buy Russian oil or liquefied natural gas. France in particular, Trump noted, is the second-largest European importer of Russian energy, bound by long-term “take or pay” contracts that run through the early 2030s. Contracts or not, the president suggested, Paris was helping to bankroll Putin’s war machine.
Trump has long bristled at Europe’s energy dependence, but his Tuesday address marked a shift. Earlier this month, he railed against oil imports alone. Now he broadened the scope to all Russian energy — a widening of the target that came a day after France broke with Washington over Palestinian statehood.
The president’s message sharpened as he neared the close: “In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly. But for those tariffs to be effective, European nations, all of you are gathered here right now, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures.”
Watch the clip below:
President Donald Trump criticized China, India and several NATO nations who continue to purchase oil from Russia amid the war in Ukraine during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly https://t.co/vZ7OZMpeay pic.twitter.com/U3dkKJfU2C
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) September 23, 2025
