President Donald Trump has threatened to impose secondary tariffs on oil coming out of Russia, if he felt it hindered progress towards ending the war in Ukraine.
He is set to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming week.
Trump threatens to put “secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” during an interview with NBC yesterday.
Trump said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin after the latter criticised the leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, putting his credibility into question.
Trump said that Putin’s comments were “not going in the right location”.
Putin had suggested on Friday that Ukraine be put under temporary UN control until a “competent” government was elected. The suggestion was dismissed by Washington, as Putin once again took aim at the government in Kyiv and Zelenskyy whom the Kremlin continues to accuse of being “illegitimate”.
Providing more insight into his reasoning, Trump added that “new leadership means you’re not going to have a deal for a long time, right?”
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Trump also said during the interview that “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 — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia.”
It was a significant change of tone towards Russia by Trump, who said he would be speaking to Putin during the coming week.
Russia and Ukraine this month agreed in principle to a limited 30-day ceasefire in the Black Sea, but both sides have since continued to attack each other with drones and missiles.
During a separate interview on Saturday, Trump threatened to “bomb” Iran and apply “secondary tariffs” to the country if Iran refused to make a nuclear deal with the U.S. to ensure it didn’t develop the weapon.