UNITED States President Donald Trump has confirmed the US will send Ukraine more weapons and has threatened to levy steep tariffs on Russia amid his growing frustration over Russia’s refusal to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Speaking at the White House on Monday during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, Trump said the US would be sending “billions” of dollars in military equipment, including Patriot air defence systems and other missiles. These weapons, said Trump, will be paid for by NATO members.
“In a nutshell, we’re going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they’ll be sent to NATO,” said Trump.
He added that if Russian President Vladimir Putin fails to sign a peace deal with Ukraine, he will impose “very severe tariffs” in 50 days, including secondary tariffs of 100 percent.
Trump took office with a promise to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, and Putin’s refusal to ink a peace agreement has increasingly frustrated the US president.
While Russia has agreed to brief pauses in fighting, it has refused to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, saying that the proposal would give Kyiv a chance to remobilise its troops and rearm.
That has strained the close relationship between Putin and Trump, who last week accused the Russian leader of throwing a lot of “b******” at the US.
Rutte commended Trump’s announcement, saying: “It will mean that Ukraine can get its hands on really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defence, but also missiles, ammunition, etc.
“If I was Vladimir Putin today, and hear you speaking about what you were planning to do in 50 days, and this announcement, I would reconsider whether I should not take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously than I was doing at the moment.”
Trump said he would be pulling Patriot air defence systems from around the world to be sold to NATO countries and distributed by the defence bloc, but he did not say whether the US would also be sending long-range rockets and other offensive weapons.
During the press conference, Trump repeatedly expressed his frustration with Putin.
“My conversations with him are always very pleasant … I go home, I tell the first lady: ‘I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation’. She said: ‘Oh, really, another city was just hit’.”
Trump said that, unlike his predecessors, he wasn’t “fooled” by Putin but that ultimately, talk doesn’t talk. It’s got to be action … He knows the deal. He knows what a fair deal is.”
Melinda Haring, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said Trump’s about-face came after months of Putin’s continued onslaught.