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Donald Trump has warned Vladimir Putin that the United States is prepared to punish Russia with a barrage of new trade restrictions if Moscow fails to reach an agreement soon to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump's statement in A Truth is a social function Wednesday comes as the president tries to intensify pressure on Moscow to begin negotiations with Ukraine.
This represents his first large-scale statement on the conflict since his return for his second term in the White House after he promised during his election campaign to end the conflict. war Within 24 hours of his return to power.
He added: “If we don't make a deal, and soon, I will have no other choice but to impose high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on anything Russia sells to the United States and various other participating countries.” Trump books.
“Let's end this war, which would never have started if I were president! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better.”
The Joe Biden administration imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow after it launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, US trade with Russia has declined, so any additional tariffs will have a limited impact.
But Trump administration officials believe there are more ways the United States can tighten the screws on Russia financially, especially by targeting its energy sector.
The Biden administration has been reluctant to ban Russian oil and gas exports for fear of disrupting global energy markets. During the era of the former president, Washington imposed some restrictions on liquefied natural gas projects in Russia, and set a global ceiling for Russian oil prices, which Moscow was able to circumvent.
During his confirmation hearing as Trump's Treasury secretary, Scott Besent told Congress last week that he would be “100 percent supportive of lifting sanctions, especially on major Russian oil companies, to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the negotiating table.” .
Besant added that he believes that the US sanctions on Russia imposed by Biden are “not strict enough.”
Trump, who has questioned US military aid to Ukraine, said he expected to meet with Putin soon, and the Kremlin said the Russian leader was ready to sit down with the US president, but no date has been set for the summit.
In his post, Trump described his “very good relationship with President Putin” and said he was not looking to “hurt” Russia, but would do Russia a “favor” by pushing it to reach an agreement.
Hours after being sworn in on Monday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Putin was “destroying Russia” by continuing to wage war in Ukraine.
But the president's announcement reveals his frustration that Moscow does not appear to be listening to his calls for a settlement.
“Putin does not want to end the war, and he does not want to be pressured for peace,” a senior Ukrainian official close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times in response to Trump’s comments.
Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for the Ukraine war, told Fox News earlier this month that he hoped to find a solution within “100 days.”
Kellogg had postponed a trip to hold meetings with senior officials in Kiev earlier this month, according to people familiar with the plans. The envoy postponed his visit because Trump did not develop a plan to bring the Russians to the negotiating table and end the war, the people said.
Kellogg is expected to visit Kiev next month, but the Ukrainians may first meet him and other members of Trump's team in Washington.
David Arakhamiya, head of Zelensky's party bloc in the Ukrainian parliament, said that a delegation from Kiev plans to meet with members of the new administration in the American capital in the coming days.
“Active contacts between the delegation of the Ukrainian parliament and the new Trump team may begin in early February within the framework of the ‘Ukrainian Week’ scheduled to be held in Washington,” he told Ukrainian television on Tuesday.
