The China factor has become central to President Donald Trump’s strategy for the Ukraine war, as he now wants the entire NATO alliance to join the U.S. in imposing massive taxes on Beijing for its support of Russia. This represents a major strategic pivot, linking European security directly to Asian trade.
Trump’s proposal, shared on Truth Social, calls for NATO to act as a unified economic front and levy “50% to 100% tariffs on China.” He argued this would be a “great help in ending this deadly, but ridiculous war,” with the tariffs to be removed only after the conflict is resolved. This would be an unprecedented use of NATO’s collective power.
This call to action against China was paired with his existing demand for NATO to completely ban Russian oil. Trump has made it clear that new U.S. sanctions against Moscow are dependent on the alliance first taking these two unified economic steps: a full embargo on Russia and punitive tariffs on China.
This new focus on Beijing dramatically expands the scope of the conflict’s economic dimension. It challenges NATO to look beyond its traditional geographic and military mandate and to act as a global economic player, a role that many of its members may be hesitant to embrace.
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