Washington: US President Donald Trump said Monday, July 14, he would impose 100 percent secondary tariffs on Russia if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
He made the announcement during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Trump said. He did not provide specifics on how the tariffs would be implemented.
What happens when tariffs hit Russia
If Russia opts for no peace deal with Ukraine and chooses to ignore Trump, the 100 percent secondary tariff would also hit the former’s trading countries such as India.
For example, US imports tonnes of goods from India. India has been buying oil from Russia. If the tariff is imposed, US companies would have to pay a 100 percent import tax to India.
This would lead US companies to look for cheaper options and hence India can lose its trade with the United States, and a loss in revenue. India would also look for other countries to buy oil.
According to a BBC report, if Russia’s economy is able to thrive even after the tariff imposition but continues its war with Ukraine, it will eventually exhaust its finances.
“Given that oil and gas account for almost a third of Moscow’s state revenue and more than 60 percent of its exports, 100 percent tariffs could make something of a dent Russia’s finances,” the BBC report stated.
Trump’s friendship with Putin turned sour?
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January, repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator without elections.”
But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader “ has gone absolutely CRAZY!” as the bombardments continued.
“I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said,” Trump said late Sunday. “He’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”
He expressed his displeasure that the “very nice phone calls” with Putin are often followed by devastating air strikes on Ukraine.
“I don’t want to call him an assassin but he’s a tough guy. It’s been proven over the years, he fooled a lot of people – Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden,” he added. “He didn’t fool me. At a certain point talk doesn’t talk, it’s got to be action,” Trump said.
Talks on sending Patriot missiles
Trump confirmed the US is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air defence missiles and that the European Union will pay the US for the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.
“We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They are going to pay us 100 per cent for that, and that’s the way we want it,” Trump said, without specifying the number of Patriot systems to be provided.
Trump explained that the European Union would purchase the missiles from the United States and then deliver them to Ukraine. While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, individual EU member countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons.
Germany has offered to finance two Patriot systems, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin. As far as other European countries financing more systems is concerned, that would have to be seen in talks, he said.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was travelling to Washington on Monday to meet with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it now has only six.
‘Weapons flowing at a record level’
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as a waste of US taxpayer money.
“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international investment who took part in talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.
“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”
Russia’s relentless attack on Ukraine
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air defences are struggling to counter.
June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line.
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