Democrats urge Trump to increase pressure on Russia after meeting with Xi

US Democratic senators who sit on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations have issued a joint statement on US President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington, calling on him to increase pressure on Russia and apply the Graham Act against buyers of Russian energy.

Source: European Pravda, citing the statement by the Democrats on 24 September

Quote: "At a time when Americans are struggling with rising costs of gas, electricity and groceries, President Trump rolled out the red carpet for Xi. Rather than confronting China's unfair trade practices, technology theft, complicity in attacks against our troops or economic and military aggression against our allies, President Trump opted for pageantry over purpose - trading tough diplomacy for a ballroom tour and a lavish dinner with his billionaire friends"

Details: The senators also identified a number of economic and security issues on which they considered the results unsatisfactory. These included artificial intelligence, trade, Iran, the Russia-Ukraine war, Taiwan and regional security, wrongfully detained Americans and human rights.

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, the senators said that "appeals for de-escalation do nothing to halt the flow of Chinese dual-use goods keeping Vladimir Putin's war machine alive".

"If President Trump is serious about ending Putin's war, he should honour Lindsey Graham's memory by responsibly implementing the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act," the senators said.

They also stated that Trump's administration "must end its stunning year-and-a-half-long failure to impose any sanctions to counter evasion in support of Russia's war, including China's dual-use exports to Moscow and preeminent purchases of Russian oil".

Regarding Iran, the senators said that the US "should never have launched the reckless and illegal war".

"Beijing has exploited the conflict to purchase discounted Iranian oil, while US munitions and strategic stockpiles have been expended at alarming rates. Even worse, President Trump failed to hold Xi accountable for support to Iran by Chinese companies that contributed to attacks against American soldiers, marking an unconscionable dereliction of his duty to protect our men and women in uniform," the senators noted.

The statement said that the American people deserved leaders who "fight for their financial security and defend our national interests with purpose and measured strategy, not pageantry".

"We will compete successfully with China only through sustained investment in our own strengths, close coordination with allies and an unwavering defence of our democratic values. As we saw in May, this summit gave President Xi an international stage to project strength without a meaningful change in Beijing's coercive economic practices or its support for our adversaries," the Democrats added.

Background:

• Trump and Xi discussed the situation in Ukraine during their meeting at the White House.
• Before that, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Trump to use his talks with Xi to urge him to exert influence on Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to end the war or at least take steps towards de-escalation.
• Trump also said he would discuss the Graham Act, which includes provisions for sanctions on Russia and punitive tariffs on buyers of Russian energy, with Xi.

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