Trump threatens Russia, others with tariffs if deal to end Ukraine war not reached

U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (January 22, 2025) he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine, and added that these also could be applied to “other participating countries.”

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump modified comments he made on Tuesday that he would likely impose sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate an end to the nearly three-year conflict.

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“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” President Trump said.

Russia’s embassy in Washington and mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

His post did not identify the countries that he considered participants in the conflict, or how he defined participation.

The Biden administration had already heaped heavy sanctions on thousands of entities in Russia’s banking, defense, manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors since the conflict began in February 2022.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury hit Russia’s energy revenues with its hardest sanctions yet, targeting oil and gas producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that are part of the so-called dark fleet of tankers aimed at evading other Western trade curbs.

President Trump has sought to use the threat of tariffs to achieve non-trade goals, including threatening Mexico, Canada and China with duties to push them to stop illegal migration and the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.

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Those three countries are the top U.S. trading partners. But Russia is far down the list, with U.S. imports from Russia falling to just $2.9 billion through the first 11 months of 2024 from $29.6 billion in 2021.

The U.S. stopped importing Russian oil after its invasion, but still imports some precious metals, including palladium used in automotive catalytic converters.

As for other participants, the Biden administration had imposed sanctions against entities in China, North Korea and Iran for aiding Russia’s war effort.

President Trump said he was “going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War!”