U.S. President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday, July 14th, to end its war in Ukraine within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions, as he laid out plans for infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO.
Trump said he was “very, very unhappy” with Vladimir Putin, underlining his insistence that his patience had finally snapped with the Russian leader’s refusal to end the deadly conflict.
Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
But in recent weeks, Trump has shown increasing frustration with Putin, as the Russian leader stepped up missile and drone attacks to record levels instead of halting his invasion.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The Republican added that they would be “secondary tariffs” that target Russia’s remaining trade partners—seeking to impede Moscow’s ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions.
Russia’s top trading partner last year was China, accounting for about 34 percent, followed distantly by India, Turkey, and Belarus, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service.
Trump and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which the NATO military alliance would buy billions of dollars of arms from the United States—including Patriot anti-missile batteries—and then send them to Ukraine.
“This is really big,” said Rutte, as he touted a deal aimed at easing Trump’s long-held complaints that the United States is paying more than European and NATO allies to aid Ukraine.
Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Britain were among the buyers helping Ukraine, added the NATO chief.
