Trump threatens sanctions on Russia, others if Ukraine deal is not reached
#News Bureau January 23,2025
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Russia and other countries with taxes, tariffs and other sanctions if a deal is not reached to end the Ukraine war. “I am not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people. And I have always had a very good relationship with President Putin. I am saying this despite Russia betraying us as a country of the radical left. We must do this,” Trump wrote on his Truth social network.
Never forget that Russia helped us win World War II. Nearly 60,000,000 people died in the process. But President Putin, do yourself a huge favor, make a deal now, and stop this ridiculous war! It is getting worse,” Trump said.
“If an agreement is not reached, I have no choice but to impose high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Russia and other countries participating in this war,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump did not identify the countries he considers participants.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration imposed heavy sanctions on thousands of Russian entities in the banking, defense, manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Ukraine war left thousands dead and many cities reduced to rubble.
Russia’s response
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polansky said Moscow would have to see what Trump meant by a “deal” to end the war in Ukraine. “It’s not just a question of ending the war. It’s first and foremost a question of solving the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” Polansky told Reuters.
In the wake of his election win, Trump has declared dozens of times that he would broker a deal between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office. But Trump’s aides have acknowledged that a deal to end the war could take months or longer.
Earlier this month, the US Treasury attacked Russia’s energy giants with the toughest sanctions ever imposed on oil and gas producers Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 ships carrying oil evading Western scrutiny.
Will Russia be affected: Trump has threatened tariffs on a number of other countries to achieve non-trade goals, including Mexico, Canada and China. These three countries are the biggest US trading partners, with annual two-way trade of more than $2.1 trillion. Russia is far down on the list. US imports from Russia are set to fall to $2.9 billion through the first 11 months of 2024 from $29.6 billion in 2021.
The US imported $13.5 billion worth of Russian petroleum products in 2014, but that has fallen to zero following Ukraine war-related sanctions. Some other top import categories a decade ago, including steel and pig iron, have also fallen to zero.
The US still imports significant amounts of Russian manure used in farming. About $1.4 billion worth of manure was imported in 2023. It also imports more than $1 billion worth of uranium for nuclear power use and palladium and rhodium used in automotive catalytic converters.
“One way to crack down on Russia would be to ban the use of Russian wood in finished wood products coming from China, Vietnam and other countries,” said Tim Brightbill, a trade attorney at the Wiley Rein law firm in Washington.
