US President Donald Trump on Monday told Russia to resolve its Ukraine war within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions as he laid out plans for new infusions of weaponry for Kyiv.
“We’re very, very unhappy” with Russia, Trump told reporters as he met with NATO chief Mark Rutte in the White House.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,” said Trump, adding that they would be “secondary tariffs” that target Russia’s remaining trade partners — thereby seeking to cripple Moscow’s ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions.
Trump and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which the NATO military alliance would buy arms from the United States — including Patriot anti-missile batteries — and then distribute them to Ukraine to help it battle Russia’s invasion.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO… and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield,” Trump said.
Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, said Ukraine would get “massive numbers” of weapons under the deal.
Trump launched a bid at rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term in January, as he sought to honor his election campaign promise to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
His pivot towards Putin sparked fears in Kyiv that he was about to sell out Ukraine, especially after Trump and his team berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February.
But Trump has shown growing anger and frustration with Putin in recent weeks as the Russian leader, instead of halting his three-year invasion, instead stepped up attacks.
Trump added of Putin on Monday: “I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy.”
