United States President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to impose a tariff of approximately 100% on Russian products if Russian dictator Vladimir Putin does not reach a peace agreement with Ukraine within 50 days.
Trump made these comments at the beginning of a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House Oval Hall.
“One of the reasons why you (Rutte) is here today is because I am very dissatisfied with Russia,” said Trump, who in recent weeks has expressed growing frustration with Putin’s refusal to interrupt attacks against Ukraine.
“We will apply very severe rates if we do not reach an agreement in 50 days. Tariffs of about 100%, which we would call secondary tariffs,” he added. Secondary tariffs are rates imposed on other countries or entities that sell with a sanctioned nation, in this case Russia.
According to Trump, his conversations with the Russian dictator have always been “very pleasant,” however, “the missiles continue to explode at night.” The US president added that Putin managed to “fool Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden”, but did not deceive him.
During the meeting with Rutte, Trump should also finalize the delivery to Ukraine of sophisticated Patriot antimysis systems that, according to the US President, would be paid by the European Union (EU).
Trump’s comments mark a tone change from Putin, whom he had tried to approach when he took office on January 20, with the aim of reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
When the US President announced a series of sanctions against much of the world in April, he excluded Russia with the argument that the country was already under heavy financial sanctions.
The turning point occurred on July 3, during a telephone call between the two leaders, in which Putin told Trump that he would not give up his goals in Ukraine, which enraged US President.
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia if there is no progress in an agreement, but had not yet detailed a specific tariff value.
