Donald Trump has repeated his threat to turn the screw on Vladimir Putin and impose secondary sanctions on Russia if he feels the Russian president is failing to “do his job” and help end the war.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, the U.S. president warned that he would consider introducing tariffs of 25 to 50% on countries buying Russian oil if he thought Moscow was stalling on peace.
“I want to see [Putin] make a deal so that we stop Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers and other people from being killed,” said Trump.
He added: “I don’t want to go secondary tariffs on [Russian] oil, but I think you know it’s something I would do if I thought [Putin] wasn’t doing the job.”
On Sunday, Trump voiced his frustration with Putin, admitting that he was “pissed off” with the Russian leader after he questioned the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidency.
Trump also issued a threat to slap a secondary tariff on Russian oil if he thought peace negotiations were failing because of Russia.
China and India—who remain the biggest buyers of Russian oil according to the International Energy Agency—would be among those affected. While it remains to be seen how effective such a tariff would be, its introduction could potentially curb Moscow’s ability to fund the war in Ukraine.
In Monday’s address, Trump referenced similar tariffs that he had imposed on Venezuela, saying that they had “had a very strong impact.”
Trump has previously said that secondary sanctions on Moscow could be imposed within a month should the Kremlin stall on a deal.
Both Russia and Ukraine have already reached separate agreements with the U.S., only for the Kremlin to later backtrack and say any deal would only come into effect after certain sanctions were lifted.
