BREAKING: Trump threatens Russia with 'severe' tariffs if no Ukraine deal reached in 50 days
Editor's note: The story was updated with comments from top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas.
The U.S. will impose "severe tariffs" on Russia unless it agrees to a deal on ending the war in Ukraine within 50 days, U.S. President Donald Trump said in his long-anticipated announcement on July 14.
"We're gonna be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. Tariffs that are about 100%, we call them secondary tariffs," Trump said during a joint press conference in the White House alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The announcement comes amid growing frustration from Trump over Russia's delays in advancing peace efforts in Ukraine. The U.S. president had initially vowed to broker a peace deal within 24 hours of taking office.
Talking to journalists in the White House, Trump once again distanced himself from the Russia-Ukraine war, saying: "It wasn't my war. It was (former U.S. President Joe) Biden's war. It’s not my war. I'm trying to get you out of it."
"And we want to see it end. I'm disappointed in President (Vladimir) Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there," he added.
Recent weeks saw Russia ramp up aerial strikes across Ukrainian cities after repeatedly rejecting calls by Kyiv and its Western partners for a ceasefire.
"I speak to Putin a lot about getting this done, and then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city. And it's strange... I go home and tell the First Lady, "I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation." She says, 'Oh, really? Another city was just hit'," the U.S. president added.
The secondary tariffs presented by Trump appear to fall short of a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill, which seeks to impose a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian oil and raw materials.
Commenting on Trump's announcement, top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said that the proposed timeline for a peace deal is too lengthy.
"On the one hand, it is very positive that President Trump is taking a strong stance on Russia. On the other hand, 50 days is a very long time if we see that they are killing innocent civilians, also every day," she said in Brussels on July 14.
"It is clear that we all need to put more pressure on Russia so that they would also want peace."
Trump and Rutte also unveiled a scheme under which NATO will purchase advanced arms from the U.S., including air defense systems, and deliver some of them to Ukraine.
"We're gonna make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO. NATO may choose to have a certain (number) of them sent to other countries... where the country will release something, and it will mostly be in the form of a replacement," Trump explained.
The scheme will be fully paid and coordinated by the alliance, he stressed.
Rutte explained that the new plan means that "Ukraine will get its hands on massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defense, but also missiles, ammunition, etc." He added that the deal would not endanger the U.S.'s own military readiness.
"If I was Vladimir Putin today... I would reconsider whether I should take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously than I was doing at the moment," the NATO chief said.
Germany and Norway recently voiced readiness to purchase at least three new Patriot batteries from U.S. manufacturers and deliver them to Ukraine, strengthening the country's air defense capabilities.
Trump has long been reluctant to greenlight additional arms for Kyiv, arguing that European countries should take on greater responsibility for aiding Ukraine, as well as for their own security. Recent reporting suggests that, for the first time since taking office, Trump may approve a new military aid package for Ukraine under the presidential drawdown authority.
