WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine Wednesday, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war.
\nTrump\u2019s warning in a Truth Social post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term.
\n\u201cIf we don\u2019t make a \u2018deal,\u2019 and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,\u201d Trump said.
\nTrump said he was \u201cnot looking to hurt Russia\u201d and had \u201calways had a very good relationship with President Putin,\u201d a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past.
\n\u201cAll of that being said, I\u2019m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT\u2019S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cLet\u2019s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way \u2014 and the easy way is always better. It\u2019s time to \u2018MAKE A DEAL.\u2019\u201c
\nRussia already faces crushing US sanctions over the war since invading Ukraine in 2022 and trade has slowed to a trickle. Trump\u2019s predecessor Joe Biden\u2019s administration imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow\u2019s energy sector earlier this month.
\nBut Trump \u2014 a billionaire tycoon famed for his book \u201cThe Art of the Deal\u201d \u2014 and his administration reportedly believe there are ways of toughening measures to press Putin.
\nThe United States imported $2.9 billion in goods from Russia from January to November 2024 \u2014 down sharply from $4.3 billion over the same period in 2023, according to the US Department of Commerce.
\nTop US imports from Russia include fertilizers and precious metals.
\nIt was Trump\u2019s toughest line on Putin since he returned to the White House this week, and comes despite fears that it was Kyiv rather than Moscow that he would strongarm into making a peace deal.
\nDuring a White House press conference on Tuesday Trump said only that it \u201csounds likely\u201d that he would apply additional sanctions if Putin did not come to the table.
\nThe US president however declined to say whether he would continue Biden\u2019s policy of sending billions of dollars in weaponry to help Ukraine.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking at that,\u201d he said at the press conference. \u201cWe\u2019re talking to (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, we\u2019re going to be talking to President Putin very soon.\u201d
\nTrump has also said he expects to meet Putin \u2014 with whom he had a summit in his first term in Helsinki \u2014 soon.
\nPrior to beginning his new inauguration on Monday, Trump had vowed to end Ukraine war \u201cwithin 24 hours\u201d and before even taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Moscow.
\nBut his promised breakthrough has proved elusive.
\nIn unusually critical remarks of Putin on Monday, Trump said the Russian president was \u201cdestroying Russia by not making a deal.\u201d
\nTrump added that Zelensky had told him he wanted a peace agreement to end the war.
\nPutin congratulated Trump on his inauguration for a second term on Monday.
\nThe Russian leader added that he was \u201copen to dialogue\u201d on Ukraine conflict with Trump\u2019s incoming US administration, adding he hoped any settlement would ensure \u201clasting peace.\u201d
\nTrump has repeatedly praised Putin, whose hyper-masculine style and professed attachment to traditional values has increasingly found favor among some US Christian conservatives.
\nUS special counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI both investigated alleged collusion between Russia and Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign \u2014 which Trump in his post on Wednesday dubbed once again the \u201cRussia hoax.\u201d
\nMueller won convictions of six members of the Trump campaign but said he found no evidence of criminal cooperation with Russia by the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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