Russia yesterday rejected pressure from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to impose stiff economic penalties on Moscow if it does not end hostilities with Ukraine within 50 days — although the Kremlin indicated it would review his latest stance.
“We first and foremost note that any attempts to make demands — especially ultimatums — are unacceptable for us,” state-run Tass news service quoted Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov as saying.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump’s statement was “serious,” and Moscow needed time to study it, Tass reported.
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Trump on Monday said that he would apply levies in the form of “secondary tariffs” if the Kremlin did not cease fighting. He did not provide details, but has used the term in the past to describe duties imposed on countries for trading with US adversaries.
The threats echo punishment spelled out in a bipartisan bill in the US Congress that would impose 500 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas, such as China and India.
“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,” Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House, where he also promised new weapons for Kyiv.
The US president’s move to put pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin came after several months of unsuccessfully trying to cajole Moscow into halting its offensive in Ukraine and negotiating a peace deal. Russia has intensified its drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in the past few weeks.
Asked if Trump meant to refer to the more widely known tool “secondary sanctions,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told reporters that sanctions and tariffs were “both tools in his toolbox” and that “you can do either one.”
A White House official said Russia could face both measures if it fails to sign a ceasefire deal by early September.
US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said the planned action effectively represents secondary sanctions on countries buying oil from Russia.
“It’s about tariffs on countries like India and China that are buying their oil,” he told reporters. “And it really is going to, I think, dramatically impact the Russian economy.”
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