WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn’t reached to end the war in Ukraine, a warning that is likely fall on deaf ears in the Kremlin. The United States already prohibits the import of virtually all Russian products, and Russia has faced a multitude of U.S. and European sanctions since the invasion began almost three years ago.
President Donald Trump looks on during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)g
In a post to his Truth Social site on Wednesday, Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war.”
He said he had no desire to hurt Russia — which he noted had played a major role in securing victory for the Allies against Nazi Germany in World War II — and has a good relationship with Putin, but warned of the penalties if the war isn’t stopped soon.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”
Trump has been skeptical of the billions of dollars the Biden administration provided Ukraine in weapons and other materiel to defend itself. He has often spoken of his desire to end the war and said on the campaign trail that he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office. That has not happened.
The problem with the threat is that other than a small amount of fertilizer, animal feed, inorganic material like tin, and machinery, Russia currently exports very little to the U.S. that could be subject to tariffs. Oil had been Russia’s largest export to the U.S., but such trade was zeroed out in 2023.
The U.S. imported a total of $2.8 billion worth of these products from Russia in 2024, a tiny fraction of U.S. imports and a precipitous drop from 2023, when it was $4.5 billion, and 2022, when it was $14.4 billion, according to U.S. government statistics.
And, Russia is already one of the world’s most heavily sanctioned nations. Many of those sanctions relate to its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and were imposed under President Joe Biden, but others predate Biden. Some were imposed during Trump’s first term in office, and some date back to Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
In addition, “other participating countries” such as Iran and North Korea, the two most often accused of helping Russia in the Ukraine war, are subject to even more U.S. sanctions.
Trump’s Empty Threats to Pressure Russia Falling on Deaf Ears
This will be short and simple — Donald Trump’s reported threat to expand sanctions on Russia if it does not halt attacks on Ukraine is empty and meaningless. As you will see in the following videos, I am currently in Moscow and participating in some public diplomacy seminars. What I have gleaned as a result of conversations with some well-informed Russian analysts is that the era of the United States being able to bully or coerce Russia is over. Donald Trump now confronts a Russia, with a government, an economy and a military, that does not need a single thing from the United States beyond mutual respect. The Russian people are prepared to live a comfortable, productive life without having to deal with the United States. That is a truth that Donald Trump needs to grasp.
White House seeks plan for possible Russia sanctions relief, sources say
March 3 (Reuters) – The United States is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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Ending the second Cold War between Russia and the West
DEFEATING THE NEW COLD WARS – Jonathan Power’s weekly column on foreign affairs
