President Trump meets with NATO Secretary-Basic Mark Rutte within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Monday.
Evan Vucci/AP
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Evan Vucci/AP
MOSCOW — President Trump on Monday threatened to punish Russia with heavy tariffs on international locations that commerce with Moscow if the Kremlin fails to achieve a ceasefire cope with Ukraine, whereas promising Kyiv “billions of dollars” price of army gear.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Trump stated throughout a White Home assembly with NATO Secretary-Basic Mark Rutte. “I use trade for a lot of things,” Trump stated. “But it’s great for settling wars.”
It was his newest warning in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin because the U.S. president turns into more and more pissed off with the Kremlin chief over his continued conflict in Ukraine.
President Trump defined that NATO international locations would purchase U.S.-made weapons, together with Patriot air protection missile methods, and that these international locations would offer them to Ukraine.
Talking Sunday to reporters forward of the assembly with Rutte, Trump forged the weapons choice as a direct rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need because Putin really surprised a lot of people,” Trump stated. “He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.”
Republican Senate allies have sought to reconfigure a draft invoice that may give Trump a sanctions on/off change to make use of as snap leverage with Moscow.
Collectively, the strikes cap a stark turnaround in Trump’s method towards President Putin over the Ukraine problem — from initially promising he might leverage his private relations with Putin to barter a peace settlement to now overtly criticizing the Kremlin chief as unserious in negotiations to finish the conflict.
The announcement coincided with a go to by White Home envoy Keith Kellogg to Kyiv that included a sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy appeared upbeat in a video launched to social media, calling his talks with Kellogg a “productive conversation” and praising Trump for “important signals of support” for Ukraine.
“We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, joint production, and procurement of defense weapons in collaboration with Europe,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
“We hope for U.S. leadership, as it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength.”
Again in Moscow, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Russia was ready to listen to full particulars of Trump’s announcement — however framed the choice to supply arms by way of NATO as merely U.S. coverage rebranded.
“The fact remains that the supply of weapons, ammunition and military equipment from the United States continued and continues to Ukraine,” Peskov advised reporters.
The spokesman has equally performed down latest profane statements by Trump suggesting Putin was unserious about negotiations.
The American chief typically engages in “tough talk,” Peskov famous, including Russia nonetheless hoped to restore bilateral relations.
Political observers in Moscow urged the Kremlin’s muted response mirrored an acknowledgment it was coping with a mercurial American president.
Trump’s frustrations with Russia at present is perhaps directed at Ukraine tomorrow.
“Why should they ruin relations completely?” Sergey Poletaev, of the Moscow-based Vatfor analytical platform, stated in an interview with NPR.
“In another six months or so, the pendulum could swing back the other way.”
