Latest news with #RussiaSanctions
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Trump talks tough on Russia, but will he follow through?
On July 14, United States President Donald Trump teased a sea change in his approach to Russia's war against Ukraine. Trump declared he would send significant additional air defence units to Ukraine, whose cities are now subject to an average onslaught of more than 100 Russian drones and missiles daily. Leaks from the White House even claimed Trump had inquired with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a preceding phone call about what offensive weaponry Kyiv needed to hit Moscow directly. Trump also made his most explicit sanction threat to date, proposing a 100 percent 'secondary tariff' on countries that buy Russian oil, if the Kremlin does not agree to a ceasefire in 50 days, by September 3. But Trump's tough talk has fallen far short of moving the dial. Russian officials have laughed off his claims about hitting Moscow. Air defence deliveries may lower the damage from Putin's aerial onslaught, but delivering them in anything like the numbers Trump floated will take many months. Trump's sanctions threat has not moved markets, though such a restriction would amount to an attempted blockade of the world's third-largest oil producer. That Trump has shifted his approach to Russia should, however, come as no surprise. Despite Trump's apparent personal affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin, regarding Ukraine and Russia, his view of key US strategic interests is fundamentally opposed to Putin's. Trump wants to export more US natural gas; Putin wants to do the same with Russia's gas, having lost his European pipeline market. Trump cares about Greenland because he recognises the importance of Arctic shipping routes in the future, and for Russia, its rival Arctic shipping route is a key factor in maintaining Chinese support. Putin wants to seize as much of Ukraine's mineral resources for Russia as he can; Trump wants to do the same for Washington. Having failed in his inaugural pledge to settle the conflict within a day, something he now admits was an exaggeration, Trump's longstanding hostility towards Zelenskyy – a legacy of Trump's first impeachment scandal, which resulted from an attempt to extort blackmail on the Biden campaign from Zelenskyy – was eased after Kyiv agreed to a long-term strategic alignment with Washington on those minerals. Trump has, if belatedly, recognised that Putin has not been negotiating in good faith. No progress was made in the May and June peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, with both sides just showing up to please Trump and try to win him over to their respective positions. Trump's realisation may have come from the fact that Putin increased his demands amid those negotiations. He not only continued to insist on the occupation of all of the southern and eastern Ukrainian regions he claims to have annexed, though never fully occupied, but added that Russia would need a 'buffer zone' in northern Ukraine as well. The change in Trump's approach has thus far had a muted impact for two reasons. Firstly, because his threat of the Russian oil tariff is not credible on its own. Trump has been extremely wary of high oil prices, or even the potential for them to rise. In the aftermath of his June strikes on Iran, he publicly decried the subsequent spike in oil markets. But it is also doubtful that the secondary tariff threat alone will work. Trump first used a similar threat to target Venezuelan oil exports at the end of March, and while Venezuelan exports declined, they have since recovered as Beijing has expanded purchases. Especially as it is in the middle of its own tariff war with Trump, which has already seen him threaten tariffs even above 100 percent, there is little chance Beijing, Russia's largest oil buyer, will care about a similar threat on Russian production. Additionally, Trump's decision to play for time with his threat is likely to delay passage of a Senate bill imposing additional sanctions on Russia, though 83 of 100 members of the chamber have co-sponsored it. The Republican Party's leadership in the Senate and the House are wary of being seen to goad Trump on the issue, lest it risk blowback from Trump, who demands near-universal authority and deference on policymaking from his party. Nevertheless, while Trump has gotten Europe to agree to be more public in accepting its costs of supporting Kyiv – which cumulatively were larger than the US's even before Trump began his second term, despite his assertions to the contrary – it will continue to be US equipment and technology that drive Kyiv's ability to resist or turn the tide. And delivering new arms to Ukraine and training its forces to use them will take time. Trump will also have to change his approach. Increasing economic pressure on Russia that can force Putin to treat negotiations seriously is not something that the US can achieve alone. It is made only harder to achieve when Washington spars with its allies and partners. With regards to additional restrictions on Russian oil, Trump may not have much chance of convincing Russia to go along, but such restrictions could jolt India to change its approach. New Delhi has gone from being a negligible purchaser of Russian oil before the full-scale invasion to its second-largest market, with 40 percent of India's imports now coming from Russia. India's Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week noted the country would not change its approach. He emphasised New Delhi has complied with previous restrictions, including the oil price cap, which the Biden administration engineered together with G7 allies in 2022 to actually keep Russian oil flowing, just limiting its revenues therefrom. They too were wary of market disruption, as Trump is today, with Biden's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen even explicitly supporting the structure as a way to secure oil 'bargains' for India and other developing markets. But the minister did note that if there was an international agreement on shifting Russian oil purchases, then New Delhi could change its approach. If Trump wants his threats against Moscow to be credible, he will have to embrace a multilateral approach. Some steps are easy to do. As Trump's administration has thus far resisted additional sanctions, Brussels and Westminster have taken the lead in targeting Russia's 'shadow fleet' aimed at evading sanctions and the price cap, and engineering new sanctions proposals, including proposing tweaks to the oil price cap to lower it further when prices are soft. Two European Union sanctions packages have been agreed in the last six months, the second on July 18, and Trump should swiftly match their measures. If Europe can also be convinced to support a secondary tariff or other sanctions on Russian oil purchasers, that measure too would be far more likely to be effective. Additionally, Trump can target Russia's additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports by finally blacklisting Novatek, its key LNG exporter. Europe has not been willing to go that far yet, instead seeking only a phaseout of its purchases by the end of next year. But because the market for LNG tankers is much smaller than the oil market, earlier US sanctions on Russian LNG projects have proven much harder to evade. Russia's economy is finally struggling under the costs of Putin's war and all the sanctions he has brought upon his country in response to his aggression. Russian banks are reportedly holding preliminary discussions on the terms of state bailouts. But amid this pain, Russia claims to have seized a town in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time – a claim Kyiv denies and which remains unverified. Trump can have a far more significant impact on the course of the war by reversing his resistance to Ukrainian attacks on the Kremlin's energy assets. Trump may have declared a new approach to Russia, but whether it goes beyond mere rhetoric will depend on his willingness to work with partners and allies and acknowledge the costs of such pressure. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump threatens ‘severe' tariffs on Russia if no Ukraine ceasefire in 50 days
President Trump said the U.S. would impose 'severe' tariffs on Russia if Moscow did not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine in the next 50 days. 'We're very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in about 50 days,' Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. Trump indicated he would impose a 100 percent 'secondary' tariff, which would target other nations that do business with Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after amassing troops at the border. Trump campaigned on a pledge to end the war within 24 hours, a timeframe he later claimed was 'sarcastic.' Trump has in recent weeks expressed increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin as Moscow continues to fire missiles into Ukraine despite the White House's push for a ceasefire. 'The only one we haven't been able to get to yet is Russia. And I'm not happy. And I will tell you that Ukraine wants to do something,' Trump said, arguing the conflict has been one of the few he has not been able to help settle. 'It's all talk and then missiles go into Kyiv and kill 60 people,' he added. 'It's got to stop. It's got to stop.' The president has faced growing pressure from some lawmakers in his own party to impose sanctions on Russia over its war effort in Ukraine, though Trump has been non-committal about whether he would sign a bill working its way through the Senate. Trump on Monday also touted a deal with NATO to send weapons to Ukraine, with the military alliance bearing the brunt of the cost. The president also raised doubt over whether he will support Senate Republicans moving forward on a sanctions bill against Russia that has a veto-proof number of supporters. 'I'm not sure we need it,' Trump said. 'It could be very useful, we'll have to see,' Trump continued. He added that he is meeting today with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Thune said last week that he would look to put the Russia Sanctions bill on the floor this month. The bill has about 85 co-sponsors in the Senate. Updated 11:41 a.m. Laura Kelly contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Malay Mail
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
‘He fooled a lot of people': Trump turns on Putin with tariff threat, says ‘disappointed' in Russian leader as Ukraine war continues
WASHINGTON, July 15 — Ever since his political rise a decade ago, Donald Trump has sung the praises of Vladimir Putin — the Russian president was a 'strong leader' who, perhaps more important, would often say 'very good things' about him. With his announcement Monday of new arms for Ukraine via Europe and tariff threats on Russia, Trump's bromance with Putin has hit a new low — but it may not have run its course. Trump, who had vowed to end the Ukraine war within a day of returning to the White House, said he was 'disappointed' in Putin, who has kept attacking Ukraine as if the leaders' telephone conversations 'didn't mean anything.' 'I go home, I tell the first lady, 'You know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation. She said, 'Oh really? Another city was just hit.'' 'I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy. It's been proven over the years. He's fooled a lot of people,' Trump said. Trump quickly rejected that he was among those fooled and again insisted that the 2022 invasion of Ukraine was the fault of his predecessor Joe Biden, who championed a hard line on Russia. Brandishing his favourite weapon, Trump gave Russia 50 days to comply before facing 100 percent tariffs on countries that purchase from Russia, but stopped short of backing a bill before Congress for up to 500 percent tariffs. Russia's own trade with the United States has slowed down a trickle. Trump had 'promised that he could get Putin to the negotiating table, and he has failed to do that,' said Heather Conley, a former State Department policymaker on Russia now at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. His tariff threat 'shows frustration that he has failed to do it, but I don't see it as a big policy change,' she said. Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organised by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv region on July 12, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. — AFP pic The great deal-maker? Trump stunned European allies on February 28 when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, telling him he was ungrateful for billions of dollars in weapons under Biden. Trump then briefly held up new military and intelligence. For the US president, a transactional-minded businessman, Putin committed a key offence — undermining Trump's self-image as a deal-maker. 'For six months, President Trump tried to entice Putin to the table. The attacks have gone up, not down,' Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has led the push for tough new sanctions on Russia, told CBS News show 'Face The Nation.' 'One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump,' Graham said. Yet Trump has repeatedly shown a willingness to trust Putin, despite firm warnings from within the US government. Most famously, he sided with Putin over US intelligence at a 2018 news conference after they met in Helsinki after the Russian president denied meddling to support Trump in his first election. For observers of Putin, the longest-serving leader in Moscow since Stalin, there was never much chance he would accept compromise on Ukraine or work with the West. Putin has rued the demise of Russia's influence with the fall of the Soviet Union as a historic calamity and rejected the idea that Ukraine has its own historical identity. With Russia making small but steady gains on the battlefield and bringing in North Korean troops, Putin has put his entire country on war footing, Conley said. 'The Kremlin has thrown everything into this,' she said. 'President Putin believes that this is just going to be a slow erosion of Ukraine's position and the West's position, and he will win this conflict on its own merits,' she said. Mark Montgomery, a retired US rear admiral and Senate policy aide, said Putin believed in what has been referred to as TACO — Trump Always Chickens Out. Putin 'thought he could take it to the limit each time, and he found out he was wrong,' said Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish research group. 'I don't think this stops until Putin feels either weapons system pain or economic pain that he cannot sustain.' — AFP
News.com.au
15-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Trump sours on Putin, but bromance may not be over
Ever since his political rise a decade ago, Donald Trump has sung the praises of Vladimir Putin -- the Russian president was a "strong leader" who, perhaps more important, would often say "very good things" about him. With his announcement Monday of new arms for Ukraine via Europe and tariff threats on Russia, Trump's bromance with Putin has hit a new low -- but it may not have run its course. Trump, who had vowed to end the Ukraine war within a day of returning to the White House, said he was "disappointed" in Putin, who has kept attacking Ukraine as if the leaders' telephone conversations "didn't mean anything." "I go home, I tell the first lady, 'You know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation. She said, 'Oh really? Another city was just hit.'" "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy. It's been proven over the years. He's fooled a lot of people," Trump said. Trump quickly rejected that he was among those fooled and again insisted that the 2022 invasion of Ukraine was the fault of his predecessor Joe Biden, who championed a hard line on Russia. Brandishing his favorite weapon, Trump gave Russia 50 days to comply before facing 100 percent tariffs on countries that purchase from Russia, but stopped short of backing a bill before Congress for up to 500 percent tariffs. Russia's own trade with the United States has slowed down a trickle. Trump had "promised that he could get Putin to the negotiating table, and he has failed to do that," said Heather Conley, a former State Department policymaker on Russia now at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. His tariff threat "shows frustration that he has failed to do it, but I don't see it as a big policy change," she said. - The great deal-maker? - Trump stunned European allies on February 28 when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, telling him he was ungrateful for billions of dollars in weapons under Biden. Trump then briefly held up new military and intelligence. For the US president, a transactional-minded businessman, Putin committed a key offense -- undermining Trump's self-image as a deal-maker. "For six months, President Trump tried to entice Putin to the table. The attacks have gone up, not down," Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has led the push for tough new sanctions on Russia, told CBS News show "Face The Nation." "One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump," Graham said. Yet Trump has repeatedly shown a willingness to trust Putin, despite firm warnings from within the US government. Most famously, he sided with Putin over US intelligence at a 2018 news conference after they met in Helsinki after the Russian president denied meddling to support Trump in his first election. For observers of Putin, the longest-serving leader in Moscow since Stalin, there was never much chance he would accept compromise on Ukraine or work with the West. Putin has rued the demise of Russia's influence with the fall of the Soviet Union as a historic calamity and rejected the idea that Ukraine has its own historical identity. With Russia making small but steady gains on the battlefield and bringing in North Korean troops, Putin has put his entire country on war footing, Conley said. "The Kremlin has thrown everything into this," she said. "President Putin believes that this is just going to be a slow erosion of Ukraine's position and the West's position, and he will win this conflict on its own merits," she said. Mark Montgomery, a retired US rear admiral and Senate policy aide, said Putin believed in what has been referred to as TACO -- Trump Always Chickens Out. Putin "thought he could take it to the limit each time, and he found out he was wrong," said Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish research group. "I don't think this stops until Putin feels either weapons system pain or economic pain that he cannot sustain."
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Trump says he will send Patriot missile defence systems to Kyiv
Donald Trump has said he will send Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine and that they are 'desperately' needed to defend the country because Russian president Vladimir Putin 'talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening'. The US president did not give a number of Patriots he plans to send to Kyiv but said the European Union would reimburse the US for their cost. 'They are going to pay us 100% for that, and that's the way we want it,' Trump told reporters on Sunday. The moves come amid a souring of Trump's relations with Putin and just two weeks after Washington said it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv. US senators touted a bipartisan bill that would arm Trump with 'sledgehammer' sanctions to use against Russia, ahead of the latest visit to Ukraine by US special envoy Keith Kellogg. Trump said he would make a 'major statement … on Russia' on Monday. Republican senator Lindsey Graham – a top ally of Trump – said on Sunday he had majority backing in the Senate for his bill, which was gaining momentum as US-led peace efforts in Ukraine struggled. The bill would allow Trump 'to go after Putin's economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine', he told broadcaster CBS. Trump has indicated he would be open to the sanctions bill after repeatedly saying he is 'disappointed' with Putin over Moscow's deadly missile barrages against Ukraine. Nato secretary general Mark Rutte is set to meet Trump this week on the heels of the US president announcing plans to sell Nato allies weaponry that it can then pass on to Ukraine. Nato said Rutte would be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday and would meet with Trump, secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth as well as Congress. French defense minister Sebastien Lecornu, meanwhile, said in an interview published on Sunday in La Tribune Dimanche that European officials had been making the case to the Trump administration to bolster air defence capabilities with any coming packages. He said France was in a 'capacity hole' and would have to wait until next year before being able to provide Ukraine new ground-to-air missiles. Ukraine's SBU security service has announced it tracked down and killed Russian agents they said had assassinated one of their members. A two-strong team – a man and a woman – had killed Col Ivan Voronich in Kyiv on Thursday, it said. 'A special operation was conducted this morning, during which members of the Russian FSB agent group put up resistance and they were eliminated,' the SBU statement on Sunday said. It did not specify how many people had been killed but the SBU posted a video in which two bodies were visible. The team that killed Voronich had spent time getting to know his daily schedule and routes, the SBU said. The UN nuclear watchdog said it had heard hundreds of rounds of small arms fire late on Saturday at Ukraine's Russian-occupied nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday that the large number of shots – repeatedly fired for about an hour from 10pm local time – was unusual and that it was seeking further information. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Sunday to discuss Ukraine as well as relations with the US. Lavrov arrived in China after a visit to North Korea, where he received assurances of support in its conflict with Ukraine. Lavrov and Wang Yi's talks included 'the outlook for settling the Ukrainian crisis', Russia's foreign ministry said.
