Trump threatens 100% tariffs on Russia

US President Donald Trump threatened to impose stiff financial penalties on Russia if it does not end hostilities with Ukraine, while pledging fresh weapons supplies for Kyiv.

Read:
Trump says Russia sanctions would cost US ‘a lot of money’
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“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100%,” Trump said Monday during a meeting with NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] secretary general Mark Rutte at the White House.

Trump said the levies would come in the form of “secondary tariffs” without providing details. The US president has used the term in the past to describe duties imposed on countries for trading with American adversaries.

Ceasefire deal

Asked later if Trump meant to refer to the more widely known tool “secondary sanctions” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that sanctions and tariffs were “both tools in his toolbox” and that “you can do either one”. A White House official said Russia could face both measures if it fails to sign a ceasefire deal by early September.

The threats echo punishment spelled out in a bipartisan bill in Congress that would impose 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas. Trump also vowed earlier this year to tariff imports from countries that buy Venezuelan oil.

Trump did not elaborate on the powers he would use to impose secondary tariffs. He said he wasn’t sure “we need” Congress to act in order to move forward but said the legislation “could be very useful”.

The comments mark the latest signal of Trump’s growing impatience with Moscow’s war in Ukraine, which has dragged on since 2022.

But the arrangement also risks Moscow continuing its barrage on the battlefield before it returns to talks.

Trump said the US was sending a “top-of-the-line weapons” package that includes Patriot air defence batteries. The president said that NATO member states will pay for the weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

“We’re not buying it, but we will manufacture it,” Trump said. “They’re going to be paying for it.”

Much of what Kyiv will receive will depend on Europe’s ability and willingness to make the purchases. Ukraine needs air defence systems and drone interceptors as well as a constant supply of artillery shells and missiles as Moscow unleashes record air strikes.

Won’t cost US anything

Trump hailed the move as a major shift in course as he looks to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the hostilities. But the details of the decision also reflect Trump’s priorities: it won’t cost the US anything and Trump is not dedicating any new US funding to Ukraine, at least for now.

Read: Trump says he’s ‘absolutely’ weighing sanctions against Russia

“I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there,” Trump said.

The White House didn’t immediately explain how Trump envisioned the secondary tariff programme working. Oil futures fell to session lows, down more than 1%, after Trump made the threat.

The president’s remarks in recent weeks make clear that his willingness to deal with Putin is being tested. Trump directed most of his ire at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the first several months of his term but has grown increasingly frustrated that Putin is still refusing his ceasefire demands.

Many of the details of the new weapons cache for Ukraine also remained unclear after Trump’s meeting with Rutte.

The NATO chief said the bloc would coordinate with allies to fulfil Ukraine’s military needs including air defence equipment, missiles and ammunition. Germany will play a major part, alongside Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands and Canada, according to Rutte.

Europe steps up

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is also in Washington on Monday, as Berlin plans to pay for the delivery of two additional Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Rutte said that the deal with Trump will allow allies to send weapons to Ukraine more quickly, with the US later backfilling the allies’ supplies.

The agreement would be “just the first wave” and that more was to come, he added.

“This is again Europeans stepping up,” Rutte said, adding that Putin should “take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously”.

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