US president Donald Trump said on Sunday he was “p****d off” with Russian president Vladimir Putin and will impose secondary tariffs of 25 per cent to 50 per cent on buyers of Russian oil if he feels Moscow is blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Mr Trump told NBC News he was angry after Putin last week criticised the credibility of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s leadership, NBC News reported, citing a telephone interview early on Sunday.
Mr Trump said he could impose the new trade measures within a month, in comments that reflect his growing frustration about the lack of movement on a ceasefire in the three-year conflict, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault ... I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Mr Trump said.
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“That would be, that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow. Russia has called numerous western sanctions and restrictions “illegal” and designed for the West to take economic advantage in its rivalry with Russia.
Mr Trump, who spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, told NBC News he planned to speak with Mr Putin this week. The two leaders have had two publicly announced telephone calls in recent months but may have had more contacts, the Kremlin said in video footage last week.
Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has focused heavily on ending what he calls a “ridiculous” war in Ukraine. Mr Putin on Friday suggested Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections that could push out Mr Zelenskiy.
Mr Trump himself has called for new elections in Ukraine and denounced Mr Zelenskiy as a dictator. Mr Trump’s latest comments followed a day of meetings and golf with Finnish president Alexander Stubb on Saturday, during Mr Stubb’s surprise visit to Florida.
Mr Stubb’s office on Sunday said he told Mr Trump that a deadline needs to be set for establishing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire to make it happen, and suggested April 20th since Mr Trump would have been in office then for three months.
US officials have been separately pushing Kyiv to accept a critical minerals agreement, a summary of which suggested the US was demanding all Ukraine’s natural resources income for years. Mr Zelenskiy has said Kyiv’s lawyers need to review the draft before he can say more about the US offer. Mr Trump last week imposed what he called a 25 per cent secondary tariff on US imports from any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela. His remarks on Sunday suggest he could take similar action against US imports from countries that buy oil from Russia, a move that could hit China and India particularly hard.
Mr Trump said Mr Putin knows he is angry with him, but said he had “a very good relationship with him” and “the anger dissipates quickly ... if he does the right thing”. – Reuters
