Decoding Trump’s UN Speech: Part 4 — Ukraine, Oil Buyers, and the Tariff Threat
- john raymond
- Sep 24, 2025
- 2 min read
Having struck at migration, crime, and climate, Trump turned next to the war in Ukraine. In his September 23 UN address, he did not frame Russia as the sole aggressor. Instead, he shifted culpability toward those nations still purchasing Russian oil.
“China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil,” he declared, adding that “even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy.” His solution was not alliance solidarity but economic coercion: if Russia refused to “make a deal,” the United States would impose “a very strong round of tariffs” and demanded that Europe “step it up.”
At first glance this looked like an attack on Beijing and New Delhi. But Trump knows neither China’s leadership nor India’s electorate are listening to him in any meaningful way. The real targets of his rhetoric were European governments and publics.
By naming China and India as culprits, he coded the blame onto Europe: you are failing just as badly as they are. The strike was aimed inward at NATO capitals already struggling with energy costs and political instability. His demand that Europe embrace new tariffs is the heart of the self-sabotage frame. Rather than weakening Russia, such tariffs would splinter Europe’s own economies and drive China and India further into Putin’s arms.
Under the Raymond Method, the maneuver is classic...
Pillar One (Regime Security): Trump presents himself as the indispensable negotiator, threatening sanctions not against Russia but tariffs against allies, to reinforce his image as the only figure who can force peace.
Pillar Two (Asymmetric Warfare): he reframes the Ukraine war as a failure of Europeans to align their energy policies, thus eroding the moral clarity of the conflict.
Byzantine Traitor-General paradigm: he pressures European governments to choose between domestic pain through tariffs or humiliation through continued trade.
The deeper effect is corrosive. European publics already bear the brunt of high energy prices and war fatigue. By accusing NATO partners of bankrolling Putin, Trump feeds suspicion inside the Western camp.
NATO unity becomes harder to sustain when Washington itself blames Europe. And the tariff threat compounds the damage, demanding that Europe sabotage its own economic resilience while pushing China and India deeper into Moscow’s embrace.
For Moscow, this is a gift. Every ounce of doubt cast on NATO’s reliability, every accusation Trump hurls at European capitals, reduces the cohesion of the anti-Kremlin alliance. Putin thrives on precisely this kind of fragmentation.
Trump’s attack on oil buyers, coded as attacks on China and India but truly aimed at Europe, was not about defeating Russia; it was about deflecting blame from Putin while pressuring the EU to adopt self-destructive policies.
Once again, the target was not just the enemy abroad but the alliance itself.
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