Trump offers Putin an ultimatum, as Senate pressure builds to sanction Russia

USA Today

3 days ago

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin an ultimatum when he took office: Settle the war with Ukraine or brace for painful tariffs and ruinous sanctions.
Six months and a half dozen fruitless conversations later, Trump says he's ready to move forward. If a peace agreement has not been reached in 50 days, the U.S. president says he'll impose devastating economic punishments on Russia and its trading partners, as he turns his attention to resolving the war.
'We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days,' Trump said on July 14 in the Oval Office. 'Tariffs at about 100%, you'd call them secondary tariffs."
Trump's latest threat against Russia and a related decision to send Ukraine weapons that are made in America, and paid for by European allies, runs parallel to a Senate-led effort to pass crippling sanctions that would hit countries with hefty tariffs if they purchase Russian energy.
The bipartisan bill authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, has attracted 85 backers. It would put a 500% tariff on any country that buys or sells Russian oil, gas or petroleum, if Moscow refuses to make peace with Ukraine.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been eager to move forward with the bill that GOP leaders in the Senate and House were aiming to bring to the floor before Congress begins an extended recess at the beginning of August. Trump has indicated he is open to the legislation, but wants to control when the sanctions are triggered. The demand has put the president at odds with some Democratic sponsors of the bill.
The legislation that had been gaining momentum was back in limbo on July 14 after Trump's tariffs announcement.
Putin is making a 'horrible mistake'
James Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week that negotiations were taking place between the Senate and the White House on timing and the bill had been adjusted to offer Trump more flexibility.
Of the Russian leader, the Idaho Republican said, 'I think Putin is making an absolutely horrible mistake. The president gave him every reasonable opportunity to do something, and it's patently obvious that he doesn't want to.'
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a July 9 floor speech that senators had made 'substantial progress' on the bill that would 'enhance President Trump's leverage at the negotiating table and help end the bloodshed in Ukraine." He said then that the Senate would work with the House and the White House to get the bill through Congress.
Punishing Putin: Trump escalates criticism of Putin, rearms Ukraine, as Russia's war plows on
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said he would also bring the bill for a vote, declaring on Fox News on July 13, "I think there's a big appetite for that in the House, as well."
But when Trump notified Putin that "severe tariffs" were on the way the following day, Thune suggested the Senate would hold off.
'It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own,' Thune told reporters. 'If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we'll do it. We'll be ready to go.'
Trump says sanctions bill 'could be very useful'
Trump said earlier in the day, as he set a deadline for talks, that he was not sure the legislation was necessary. He said his secondary tariffs of 100% would essentially serve the same function as the 500% that senators have proposed.
"They've actually crafted a pretty good piece of legislation, it's probably going to pass very easily, and that includes Democrats," he said. "I don't want to say I don't need it, because I don't want them to waste their time, it could be very useful, we'll have to see."
He previously called it an "optional bill" and said it "lets the president do whatever he wants."
Graham indicated in a CBS interview over the weekend that Congress was considering changes that would give Trump the ability to "dial it up or down."
"The benefit of our approach is that it blends congressional authorization of tariffs and sanctions with flexibility for presidential implementation, making it rock solid legally and politically," Graham and Blumenthal said in a joint statement after Trump's tariff announcement.
Lifeline for Ukraine: Trump to send Ukraine weapons through NATO, threatens secondary tariffs on Russia
The legislation gives Trump the ability to grant one-time waivers of up to 180 days to countries and goods, if the president deems it in the national security interest of the United States.
China, India, Turkey and Brazil are among the countries that purchase Russian energy and would be most affected by the sanctions.
In 2024, U.S. imports from Russia were down to just $3 billion, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast told USA TODAY in a July 14 interview shortly after Trump's announcement that neither the House nor the Trump administration had reached a consensus on the bill that Graham introduced in April.
But he said the aim of putting secondary tariffs on countries that are indirectly funding Putin's war has been a long time coming and countries such as India and China should not be surprised they're in the works.
"I don't know every detail of what all will be covered yet," the Florida Republican said of Trump's secondary tariff threat. "But the biggest cash cow that is allowing Russia to continue to prosecute this war is the oil and the gas sales."
Democrats are hopeful Trump will move on sanctions
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top-ranking Democrat on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee and an original co-sponsor of the Senate bill, told USA TODAY on July 10 she thought there was a 'good chance' the legislation would make it through Congress.
'There's a needle to thread so that on the one hand, the president – any president – retains the ability to engage in foreign policy negotiations, and on the other hand, on a matter of whim, can crawl straight into bed with our adversaries and shut down congressionally-established sanctions policy," she said.
Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who sometimes sides with Trump on policy, said that same day that he fully supported the 'most severe kind of sanctions that can pass here in the Senate.'
The Pennsylvania senator said it is 'truly heartbreaking and appalling' the way Russia is hitting Ukraine with drones and killing civilians.
'The things that the president has said have given me the first hope since his election that we could actually address the appalling situation around Ukraine,' Fetterman said.