By Maya Mehrara, News Reporter
Russia has responded to President Donald Trump’s warning that he will impose tariffs and sanctions if Moscow does not “make a deal” soon and end the war with Ukraine.
Russia’s Deputy United Nations Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters that it depends on what a “deal” means, and the Kremlin said it does not see “any new elements here.”
Why It Matters
Trump’s threat could not only have detrimental effects on Moscow’s struggling economy, but it could also increase tensions between Russia and the U.S. and make peace negotiations with Ukraine more difficult. The imposition of tariffs and sanctions could also have long-standing ramifications on global markets, as tariffs imposed on goods by either country could affect other countries importing the products.
Further, the tariffs on Russian goods could also indirectly affect American consumers by impacting U.S. market prices, particularly with materials made with certain metals that the country no longer imports, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
What To Know
In a post on Truth Social on January 22, Trump made threats to Russia’s economy and wrote that it is “ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal.'” He added that he as “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.”
In response, Polyanskiy told Reuters: “It’s not merely the question of ending the war. It’s first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis.”
He added that “we have to see what does the ‘deal’ mean in President Trump’s understanding. He is not responsible for what the U.S. has been doing in Ukraine since 2014, making it ‘anti-Russia’ and preparing for the war with us, but it is in his power now to stop this malicious policy,” as reported by Sky News.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also responded to Trump’s threat of sanctions and tariffs and told reporters: “We do not see any particularly new elements here. He likes these methods, at least he liked them during his first presidency.”
He added that Moscow is closely monitoring the president’s statements, and that “We carefully record all the nuances. We remain ready for dialogue, President [Vladimir] Putin has repeatedly spoken about this; for equal dialogue, for mutually respectful dialogue.”
Putin made a similar statement soon after Trump’s inauguration. He met with top officials and said that he was willing to pursue peace negotiations with the new administration if the sides could eliminate “the root causes” of the war.
The U.S. president’s push for Moscow to end the war came swiftly after his inauguration, as he said, prior to returning to the White House, that he would end the war within “24 hours,” later amending the timeline to six months. Trump’s nominee for special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has made similar statements and said that he believed peace could be achieved within 100 days.
Since the outbreak of the war with Ukraine, Russia has been subject to the imposition of sanctions from numerous Western countries, with many coming from the U.S.
Sanctions targeting on Moscow’s shadow fleet, a direct hit to the country’s energy sector, were imposed on January 10. Trump’s team is reportedly devising plans for future sanctions on oil to pressure Russia into ending the war, as reported by Bloomberg.
What People Are Saying
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Bill Kristol, the director of Defending Democracy Together, wrote: “But Russia already prevented from selling anything in U.S. So this threat of ‘Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions’ seems empty. If Trump wants to put pressure on Putin, he needs to ramp up support for Ukraine. Otherwise it’s just weak rhetoric from Trump which Putin will ignore.
Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, wrote: “Trump threatens to impose ‘taxes, tariffs, and sanctions’ on Russia if it does not negotiate an end to the Ukraine war. But, for two years, sanctions have not forced Russia to stop the war, and there is almost no trade between the U.S. and Russia to put tariffs on in the first place.
“The entire trade between the U.S. and Russia in the first 11 months of 2024 was just $3.4 billion, compared to, for example, $700 billion in the same time period between the U.S. and Canada. Russia’s minuscule trade with the U.S. has already fallen from $20 billion in 2022.”
What Happens Next
It is unknown at this time when peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, facilitated by the U.S., will begin and if Moscow is willing to make any concessions to end the war.
Newsweek
Discussion about this post