Trump weighs new sanctions on Russia, days after pausing military aid and intel sharing with Ukraine
Washington, Mar 7 (AP): President Donald Trump said Friday he is “strongly considering” levying new sanctions and tariffs on Russia for its war against Ukraine, floating the possibility of new pressure on Moscow just days after he ordered a pause on US military assistance and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, said he was considering the action “based on the fact that Russia is absolutely 'pounding' Ukraine on the battlefield right now.”
He added that the prospective sanctions could remain in place until the two sides come to a ceasefire and peace settlement.
The sanctions threat came as Trump faces criticism for increasing pressure on Ukraine to reach a deal while playing down or even denying Russia's responsibility for starting the war with its invasion three years ago.
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” Trump added in his post.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday that the US has kept its sanctions in place on Russia and “will not hesitate to go all in should it provide leverage in peace negotiations.”
Joe Biden's administration over the course of Russia's invasion of Ukraine imposed thousands of sanctions on Russian firms, people and ships as well as a price cap on Russian oil, among other actions.
Bessent called Biden's sanctions on Russian energy “egregiously weak” and “stemming from worries about upward pressure on US energy prices.”
“Per President Trump's guidance, sanctions will be used explicitly and aggressively for immediate maximum impact," Bessent said. “They will be carefully monitored to ensure that they are achieving specific objectives.”
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters Friday there is still a “heck of a lot” of room to put further pressure on the Russian economy through sanctions.
“President Trump is adamant that we need to get everybody to the table, and we could do that with carrots, and we could do that with sticks,” Hassett said.
Russia launched overnight attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities with dozens of missiles and drones, officials said Friday, hobbling the country's ability to deliver heat and light to its citizens and to power weapons factories vital to its defences.
The barrage — which also pounded residences and wounded at least 10 people — came days after the US suspended military aid and intelligence to Ukraine to pressure it into accepting a peace deal being pushed by the Trump administration.
Without US intelligence, Ukraine's ability to strike inside Russia and defend itself from bombardment is significantly diminished.
Trump, days into his second, nonconsecutive White House term, said targeting Russia's oil revenue was the best way to get Moscow to end its nearly three-year war against Ukraine. He leaned in on the idea that OPEC+, the alliance of oil producing nations, holds the key to ending the war by reducing oil prices.
But that push has been received coolly by OPEC+ nations, which include the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Trump has had a complicated history with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Republican president has even raised the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in making the case for why he believes he can trust Putin to not restart his war on Ukraine if a truce is reached.
“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during last week's contentious Oval Office meeting that led to Trump pausing aid and intelligence with Ukraine. “He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, ever hear of that deal?”
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Nothing changes, India will be paying tariffs; we will not be paying tariffs: Trump after SC ruling
New York/Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump said “nothing changes” in the trade deal with India in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict against his sweeping tariffs, as he responded to the ruling by announcing an additional 10 per cent global levies on items imported into the US.
In a major setback to Trump’s pivotal economic agenda of his second term, the US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 verdict written by Chief Justice John Roberts, ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump on nations around the world were illegal and that the President had exceeded his authority when he imposed the sweeping levies.
Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court justices who ruled against him, calling them "fools and lapdogs”. “The Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing, and I'm ashamed of certain members of the Court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country,” Trump said in a news conference at the White House Friday, just hours after the verdict came in.
At the news conference, Trump again repeated his claim that he had solved the war between India and Pakistan last summer using the threat of tariffs, asserted that New Delhi, at his request, “pulled way back” from buying Russian oil and said that the ruling would have no effect on the trade deal that Washington and New Delhi announced earlier this month. He also spoke about his “great” relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court strikes down Trump's sweeping tariffs, upending central plank of economic agenda
When asked whether the framework for an interim agreement on trade with India, expected to be signed soon, stands in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, Trump said “nothing changes”.
“Nothing changes. They'll (India) be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. So deal with India is they pay tariffs. This is a reversal for what it used to be. As you know, India and I think Prime Minister Modi is a great gentleman, a great man, actually, but he was much smarter than the people that he was against in terms of the United States, he was ripping us off. So we made a deal with India. It's a fair deal now, and we are not paying tariffs to them, and they are paying tariffs. We did a little flip,” Trump said.
“The India deal is on…all the deals are on, we're just going to do it” in a different way, Trump said.
To another question on his relationship with India, he said, “I think my relationship with India is fantastic and we're doing trade with India. India pulled out of Russia. India was getting its oil from Russia. And they pulled way back at my request because we want to settle that horrible war where 25,000 people are dying every month,” Trump said.
He said his relationship with Prime Minister Modi “is, I would say, great.”
Trump then went on to repeat the claim, twice within the press conference, that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan using tariffs.
“I also stopped the war between India and Pakistan. As you know, there were 10 planes were shot down. That war was going and probably going nuclear. And just yesterday, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said President Trump saved 35 million lives by getting them to stop,” Trump said.
“And I did it largely with tariffs. I said, ‘Look, you're going to fight, that's fine, but you're not going to do business with the United States, and you're going to pay a 200% tariff, each country’. And they called up and they said, ‘we have made peace’,” Trump said.
On Thursday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace on Gaza. At that meeting, Trump had said he threatened to put 200 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they didn’t stop the fighting, reiterating the claim he stopped the war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Earlier this month, as the US and India announced they reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on trade, Trump issued an Executive Order removing the 25 per cent punitive tariffs imposed on India for its purchases of Russian oil, with the US President noting the commitment by New Delhi to stop directly or indirectly importing energy from Moscow and purchasing American energy products.
Under the trade deal, Washington would charge a reduced reciprocal tariff on New Delhi, lowering it from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.
In his remarks at the press conference, Trump said he used tariffs to end the war between India and Pakistan, as he lashed out at the Supreme Court for its decision to strike down his sweeping tariffs imposed on countries around the world.
“Tariffs have likewise been used to end five of the eight wars that I settled. I settled eight wars, whether you like it or not, including India, Pakistan, big ones, nuclear, could have been nuclear,” Trump said.
“Prime Minister of Pakistan said yesterday at the great meeting that we had the peace board. He said yesterday that President Trump could have saved 35 million lives by getting us to stop fighting. They were getting ready to do some bad things. But they've given us great national security, these tariffs have,” he said.
Within hours of the Supreme Court ruling, Trump signed a Proclamation imposing a “temporary import duty” to “address fundamental international payments problems and “continue the Administration’s work to rebalance our trade relationships to benefit American workers, farmers, and manufacturers.”
The Proclamation imposes, for a period of 150 days, a 10 per cent ad valorem import duty on articles imported into the United States. The temporary import duty will take effect on February 24 at 12:01 a.m.
