US President Donald Trump Monday threatened to impose stiff financial penalties on Russia if it does not end hostilities with Ukraine.
Trump also pledged to supply top line quality weapons supplies to Ukraine including patriot missiles to defend itself against Russian attacks.
“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 Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House.
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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.
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 defense 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.”
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Much of what Kyiv will receive will depend on Europe’s ability and willingness to make the purchases. Ukraine needs air defense systems and drone interceptors as well as a constant supply of artillery shells and missiles as Moscow unleashes record air
