United States President Donald Trump has issued a statement threatening Russia with tariffs and sanctions, amid accusations that he favours Moscow over the country it has invaded, Ukraine.
On his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump avoided condemning Russia’s invasion, which has been denounced as an unjustified crime of aggression under the United Nations Charter.
Instead, he focused on Russia’s latest bombardment, which happened just days after the US announced it would temporarily stop sharing military intelligence with Ukraine.
“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,” Trump wrote.
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!”
Trump has repeatedly stated his aim of serving as a “peacemaker” and “mediator” between Russia and Ukraine, the latter of which has been fending off a full-scale invasion since February 2022.
But Trump has increasingly criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while showing an affinity for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Later, in a Friday news conference at the White House, Trump described negotiations with Russia as “easier” than similar discussions with Ukraine.
“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine, and they don’t have the cards,” Trump said. “It may be easier dealing with Russia.”
A history of tension
Tensions with Zelenskyy started to re-emerge shortly after Trump took office for a second term in January.
There has been growing scepticism among Trump’s Republican Party about continued support for Ukraine.
And Trump had previously been impeached during his first term over an alleged threat to withhold military aid to Ukraine if it did not provide damaging information about his political rivals — something critics say may be fuelling the present-day discord.
But Trump has stepped up his criticism of Zelenskyy in recent weeks. He has also attempted to steer peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, resulting in what some consider early concessions to Moscow.
Trump has said, for example, that it was “unlikely” Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia annexed Crimea and started incursions into other territories.
He also dismissed Ukraine’s attempts to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance as a non-starter, even repeating Russian talking points that Ukraine’s bid was what started the war.
On February 12, Trump announced he had conducted “a lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Putin, and that their two countries would begin peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
This led to outcry from traditional US allies in Europe, including Ukraine, which feared being sidelined from the private talks.
Then, on February 19, Trump escalated tensions by calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” for not holding war-time elections. Ukraine is under martial law as a result of the invasion, which prohibits elections from unfolding.
All the while, Trump had been pushing Ukraine to grant the US ownership over its rare earth minerals, which include metals used in technology products. Ukraine had baulked at the lack of security assurances in the deal, however.
Relations between the two leaders came to a boiling point on February 28, when Zelenskyy visited the White House to negotiate the minerals deal.
A news conference in the Oval Office devolved into a shouting match, wherein Trump berated Zelenskyy for not being “thankful” enough for US support.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump told Zelenskyy, while also remarking, “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me.”
Russian officials applauded Trump’s remarks, and shortly afterwards, Trump announced he would suspend aid to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, his administration also announced that it would temporarily cease sharing the military intelligence that Ukraine uses to track Russian troop movement, shield against incoming missiles and deploy rockets of its own.
An overnight assault
In the early hours of Friday, Russia released a barrage of missiles onto Ukrainian energy facilities, seemingly taking advantage of the current defensive blind spots.
Ukraine reported that, while it was able to intercept Russia’s drones, it was less successful in destroying the missiles before they struck.
The attack was the motivation for Trump’s sanction threat, something the president himself explained during his Oval Office appearance.
“They’re bombing the hell out of them right now,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Friday.
“I put a statement in — a very strong statement: ‘Can’t do that. You can’t do that.’ We’re trying to help them, and Ukraine has to get on the ball and get a job done.”
Still, reporters pressed Trump on whether his decision to cease intelligence-sharing with Ukraine allowed Putin to take advantage of a moment of weakness.
Trump shrugged the suggestion off, saying the Russian attack was a natural response to the situation. He also situated the attack in the context of his negotiations with Putin.
“I think he wants to get it stopped and settled, and I think he’s hitting them harder than he’s been hitting them,” Trump said of Putin.
“And I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now. He wants to get it ended, and I think Ukraine wants to get it ended, but I don’t see —. It’s crazy. They are taking tremendous punishment. I don’t quite get it.”
When asked about whether the US should offer more assistance to Ukraine to help defend against such attacks, Trump once again accused Ukraine of refusing to participate in peace negotiations.
“I have to know that they want to settle. I don’t know that they want to settle. If they don’t want to settle, we’re out of there,” Trump said.
Mending fences?
In the week since the Oval Office blowup, Ukrainian officials have attempted to mend fences with their US counterparts. Both parties are set to meet in Saudi Arabia next week.
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy also sent a letter to Trump, signalling he is ready to sign a deal with the US. He also posted similar comments on social media.
“I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace,” Zelenskyy said. “Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”
Trump read aloud part of Zelenskyy’s letter in front of a joint session of Congress, while bemoaning the amount of money the US has invested in Ukraine’s defence.
“The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defence with no security, with no anything,” he said. “Do you want to keep it going for another five years?”
Still, Friday’s threat of sanctions against Russia is the most assertive Trump has been against Moscow since the start of his second term.
Trump’s predecessor, former President Joe Biden, had issued multiple sanctions against Russia during his four years in office, including measures against its energy sector in his final days in office.
According to the US government statistics, the total US trade with Russia in 2024 was valued at about $3.5bn. That is down from $36bn in 2021, the year before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started.
Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher explained that Trump’s threats of “large-scale” sanctions could be a response to the pressure he feels to beef up his response to Russia.
“Many people thought that Donald Trump was perhaps being too supportive of Russia, was forcing Ukraine into talks, and not putting the same level of pressure onto Russia,” Fisher said.
“The United States has been leading the world under Joe Biden with sanctions. Donald Trump hasn’t implemented any new ones since he took office.”
But it is yet unclear whether Trump will follow through, particularly as he is expected to meet Putin in the coming months.
