Donald Trump has threatened Russia with additional “large -scale” sanctions and tariffs, as the US president shifted to the pressure of gathering Moscow in an attempt to mediate a peace deal in Ukraine.
Trump’s comments on Friday come as tensions are relieved with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a public confrontation at the White House last week, which led to the US suspending military aid and supporting intelligence for Kyiv.
US and Ukrainian officials will meet next week in Saudi Arabia for talks. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will run the American delegation.
“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely” hitting “Ukraine on the battlefield now, I am strongly considering large -scale banking sanctions, sanctions and tariffs for Russia until a fire and final fire resolution is achieved,” Trump wrote in his social platform of truth.
“For Russia and Ukraine, go to the table now, before it is late. Thank you !!!” he added.
Trump has faced criticism by US allies as well as local lawmakers, including several Republicans, about his clashes with Zelenskyy. Concerns are increasing that the White House is delivering all the lever to Russia even before direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv begin.
At the Oval Office later on Friday, Trump turned into Moscow friendly rhetoric.
“I see it more difficult, honestly, to deal with Ukraine (than Russia),” the president said. “I find that in terms of getting a final solution, it can be easier to deal with Russia, which is startling because they have all the cards, and they are bombing hell from them now.”
However, he said his social post of truth was “a very strong statement” to Moscow saying that “cannot” continue its intensive bombing of Ukraine.
Trump said he does not think Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking advantage of the forbidden separation of intelligence from Washington in Kyiv and, on the contrary, “doing what someone else would do.”
“I think (Putin) hit (Ukraine) harder than he hit them. And I think maybe someone in that position would do it now. He wants to finish it,” he said.
Despite the Moscow bombing campaign, Trump said he does not want to continue to supply this air protection as “I have to know they want to settle. I don’t know they want to settle.”
Trump added that before thinking about the US security guarantees for Ukraine, he wants the war to settle. “Ukraine has to get the ball and do a job done,” he said.
US officials had previously threatened sanctions on Russia in an attempt to push Putin to the negotiation table, but Trump persistently renewed that message on Friday.
The White House has not provided details of Russia -threatened sanctions and fees.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters on Friday that “there are a lot of things left, surely” to sanction “but. Let’s see how it goes.”
Russia remains under comprehensive sanctions imposed by former President Joe Biden, including its financial services, protection and energy sectors. The US has also aimed at top Russian business leaders and sanctions.
Sanctions have reduced Russia’s trade surplus by more than half, from $ 337BN to 2022, the first year of the war, to just $ 151 billion last year, said Alexandra Prokopenko, a friend at Carnegie Russia Eurasia in Berlin.
The most painful measures were sanctions against oil exports, which have forced Russian companies to sell with a discount while increasing their logistics and financial costs, and financial sanctions that have created difficult barriers for the country’s companies that make international transactions, as well as sanctions in its airline sector.
The comprehensive approach taken by the Biden administration meant that Trump can do relatively little to increase the pressure, Prokopenko said. “There are no more sanctions Bazooka and SH.BA cannot cause real pain,” she added.
But Trump officials say Biden’s sanctions were ineffective, especially regarding Russia’s comprehensive energy sector.
“One major factor that has enabled the continued funding of the Russian war machine were poor Biden administration sanctions on Russian energy,” Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, told the New York Economic Club on Thursday.
He suggested that the Biden administration was held back in placing more severe sanctions due to “increasing pressure concerns of US energy prices during an election season”.
“What was the purpose of the US military and financial support over the past three years, without general and complete support of sanction?” he asked.
The White House has previously depended on the possibility of facilitating Russian sanctions if it reaches a peace deal with Ukraine, and officials have even shown business opportunities for US investors in the country in this case an agreement.
The highest tariffs for Russian imports will have a limited impact as the trading of the country with the US has collapsed in recent years. According to the US Trade Representative Office, Russia’s goods imports reached $ 3BN in 2024.
