President Trump on Monday spoke to reporters in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss Ukraine, and he told reporters that Russia will face “very severe tariffs” if a deal is not made in 50 days.
If a deal to end the war does not happen in 50 days, Trump says, he will impose “secondary tariffs” of 100% on Russia.
“It wasn’t my war, it was Biden’s war. It’s not my war. I’m trying to get you out of it,” Trump said. “And I’m disappointed in President Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there.”
WATCH:
Trump: One of the reasons that you’re here today is to hear that we are very unhappy, I am, with Russia, but we’ll discuss that maybe a different day. But we’re very, very unhappy with them, and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100%. You call them secondary tariffs. You know what that means. But today we’re going to talk about something else. And as you know, we’ve spent $350 billion approximately on this war with Russia and Ukraine, and would like to see it end.
It wasn’t my war, it was Biden’s war. It’s not my war. I’m trying to get you out of it, and we want to see it end. And I’m disappointed in President Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there. So, based on that, we’re going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days. It’s very simple. And they’ll be at 100%. And that’s the way it is. That can be more simple, it’s just the way it is. I hope we don’t have to do it.
As The Gateway Pundit reported ahead of the meeting, Trump had planned to sell NATO allies US-made weapons and equipment that the alliance can then transfer to Ukraine.
The president announced his intentions to do so during the meeting, which Rutte confirmed would be delivered through NATO and paid for by Europe. He also said he met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning.
This comes after the Pentagon froze deliveries of weapons to Ukraine because our own stockpiles are running dry. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth halted Patriot interceptors, artillery shells, and precision missiles, citing “dangerously low” U.S. inventories.
However, in a reversal, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now.”
President Trump Says U.S. to Send More Weapons to Ukraine Just Days After Pentagon Warned of Depleted Stockpiles
This is a developing story.
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