MOSCOW — President Trump on Monday threatened to punish Russia with heavy tariffs on countries that trade with Moscow if the Kremlin fails to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine, while promising Kyiv billions of dollars worth of military equipment.
"We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days," Trump said during a White House meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. "Tariffs at about 100%, you'd call them secondary tariffs."
It was his latest warning against Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Trump becomes increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin leader over his continued war in Ukraine.
President Trump explained that NATO countries would acquire U.S.-made weapons, including Patriot air defense missile systems, and that those countries would provide them to Ukraine.
Speaking Sunday to reporters ahead of the meeting with Rutte, Trump cast the weapons deals as a direct rebuke to Putin.
"We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need because Putin really surprised a lot of people," Trump said. "He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening."
Republican senators have sought to reconfigure a draft bill that would give Trump a sanctions on/off switch to use as snap leverage with Moscow.
Collectively, the moves cap a stark turnaround in Trump's approach toward President Putin over the Ukraine issue. Trump has gone from initially promising he could leverage his personal relationship with Putin to negotiate a swift peace agreement, to now openly criticizing the Kremlin leader as unserious in negotiations to end the war.
"It's all talk and then missiles go into Kyiv and kill 60 people," Trump said Monday. "It's got to stop."
The announcement coincided with a visit to Kyiv by White House special envoy Keith Kellogg, which included a sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy appeared upbeat in a video posted on social media, calling his talks with Kellogg a "productive conversation" and praising Trump for "important signals of support" for Ukraine.
"We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine's air defense, joint production, and procurement of defense weapons in collaboration with Europe," Zelenskyy wrote on X.
"We hope for U.S. leadership, as it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength."
Back in Moscow, the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was waiting to hear full details of Trump's announcement, but framed the decision to provide arms through NATO as merely U.S. policy rebranded.
"The fact remains that the supply of weapons, ammunition and military equipment from the United States continued and continues to Ukraine," Peskov told reporters.
The spokesman has similarly played down recent profane statements by Trump suggesting Putin was unserious about negotiations.
The American leader often engages in "tough talk," Peskov noted, adding Russia still hoped to repair bilateral relations.
Political observers in Moscow suggested the Kremlin's muted response reflected an acknowledgment that it was dealing with a mercurial American president. Trump's frustrations with Russia today might be directed at Ukraine tomorrow.
"Why should they ruin relations completely?" Sergey Poletaev, of the Moscow-based Vatfor analytical platform, said in an interview with NPR.
"In another six months or so, the pendulum could swing back the other way."
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