U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine, and added that these could also be applied to "other participating countries."
In a post on Truth Social, Trump modified comments he made on Tuesday that he would likely impose sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate an end to the nearly three-year conflict.
"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have 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," Trump said.
Trump's post did not identify the countries that he considered participants in the conflict, or how he defined participation.
Former President Joe Biden's administration heaped heavy sanctions on thousands of entities in Russia's banking, defense, manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors since Moscow's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands and reduced cities to rubble.
Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said Moscow will have to see what Trump thinks a "deal" to end the war in Ukraine means.
"It's not merely the question of ending the war," Polyanskiy told Reuters. "It's first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis."
In the runup to his Nov 5 election victory, Trump declared dozens of times that he would have a deal in place between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office, if not before. But Trump's aides have conceded a deal to end the war could take months or longer.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury hit Russia's energy revenues with its hardest sanctions yet, targeting oil and gas producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that are part of the so-called dark fleet of tankers aimed at evading other Western trade curbs.
SANCTION AND TARIFF THREATS
Trump has sought to use the threat of tariffs to achieve non-trade goals, including threatening Mexico, Canada and China with duties to push them to stop illegal migration and the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.
Those three countries are the top U.S. trading partners. But Russia is far down the list, with U.S. imports from Russia falling to just $2.9 billion through the first 11 months of 2024 from $29.6 billion in 2021.
The U.S. stopped importing Russian oil after its invasion, but still imports some precious metals, including palladium used in automotive catalytic converters.
As for other participants, the Biden administration had imposed sanctions against entities in China, North Korea and Iran for aiding Russia's war effort.
Trump said he was "going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War!"
The negotiating positions of the two warring sides remain far apart, and some Ukrainians fear they could be forced to make massive concessions after three years of brutal combat.
The conflict has developed into a war of attrition largely fought along front lines in eastern Ukraine, with huge numbers of casualties on both sides.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
63 Comments
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Underworld
The root causes are known as: Russian imperialism.
JJE
Suspect this is more for domestic consumption and to appease the Atlanticist warmongers.
Russia is in the driving seat and is on a roll. Sanctions won't do anything (nor will tariffs) - even the latest round of sanctions mentioned in the article on energy companies saw their monthly revenues climb to a record high.
Moscow won't stop for a ceasefire until the national security objectives set are achieved. Watch.
Mr Kipling
All the other sanctions on Russia have worked so well. Worked on making European consumers poorer.
Underworld
JJE
As Trump said yesterday, Russia’s economy is in very bad shape. They need to stop this war before it collapses.
So why did Trump threaten Russia with them.
And the Ruble plummeted.
Moscow doesn’t have any national security objectives with this war. They never have. That has always been a pretext. This war is about Russian imperialism.
Underworld
Mr Kipling
Well they tanked the Ruble.
plasticmonkey
You mean the "de-Nazification" of Ukraine?
lol
virusrex
To be fair Trump must be desperate after promising to end the war in 24 hours so it is understandable that he threatens with anything that may be perceived to have an effect even if the effect is minimal (or there is no real intention to follow up with the threats).
Yrral
A Paperless Tiger
MarkX
He has the concept for a peace plan! It will be coming with his health care plan any day now! But first we invade Greenland!
theFu
Are there anymore tariffs to be added to Russian exports? Tariffs aren't the answer for everything, Mr. Trump. I can't believe you are so stupid. Perhaps you fired the people who actually know about how Russia has been bypassing sanctions. If they get around sanctions, they will get around tariffs too. After all, China is propping up Russia so they can keep fighting. China is the problem that allows Russia to keep fighting in Ukraine.
Moriah
Why didn't Biden do this?
This proves that Biden took a knee to Putin.
ok1517
Donald - as always - talk, words, words, words and nothing but words!
The only things he is good at is taking care of his and his clan's profits.
He doesn't understand how things are working.
Those tarriffs he plans for Russia won't achieve anything!
The trade balance with Russia 20 billion $ - peanuts!
Trade balance with Canada more than 800 billion $!
Of course he will sell out Ukraine to Putain - it will be beneficial for both sides.
bass4funk
And now they are becoming actions.
2017 not as well, but this time around…oh, yeah..
It will get them to the table, as one of the largest producers of wheat, it absolutely will
Great!
Well, this war needs to end because they won’t be getting money from us anymore.
itsonlyrocknroll
Donald Trump could well have to "reach out" to the EU commission.
The diplomacy/political timing couldn't be more problematical. France Germany economic/political trails and tribulations every day news headlines.
A strong respected diplomat will need to take charge, Romano Prodi, former prime minister of Italy perhaps?
https://home.watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/visiting-fellows/romano-prodi
plasticmonkey
Because Trump is full of it.
lincolnman
Well, it's now past "24 hours" and and we have our first Trump policy failure...that has to be a record....
“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-un-election-a78ecb843af452b8dda1d52d137ca893
FAILED! Get ready for more - given his record of flips, broken promises, and outright lies, this is just the beginning...
Lying Loser? Failed Felon? Flim-Flam Fool? They all fit...
Yrral
Trump is a chump, begging the preacher to apologize to.him
Yrral
I would like see Russian leak their secret file on Trump,that Trump is hiding
bass4funk
We went through that already, remember?
She’s worse, there was no reason for her to inject politics into a church sermon, she knew full well what Trump promised he was going to do since 2016, so I’m not sure why she would ever think she could dissuade him otherwise.
Tokyo Guy
Russia is in the driving seat and is on a roll.
If I had a ruble for every time I've heard that, I could purchase the USA back from Elon Musk.
kurisupisu
President Trump will be decisive in stopping the war.
Even before taking his second office, contact was made with Vladimir Putin.
Biden had none!
Blacklabel
24 hours, 24 hours, 24 hours.
bunch of unserious and disingenuous people. Once he does end the war? Will just move on to being disingenuous about something else.
So ungrateful.
diobrando
4 years with this clown, putin must be laughing. Who really think that trump in 24 hours could get what nobody could in several years?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Trump is sounding desperate. What could save him for a limited time only is cutting the umbilicus with Putin and properly supporting Ukraine militarily.
bass4funk
ROFL! Not sure what you’re seeing but that’s not going to happen.
On the outside, but inside, Vlad needs to a deal and needs to make money, They need to sell their wheat.
Wasabi
Wasn't the war supposed to be over on day one?
What a joke!
Bob Fosse
For what? Calling out be and lies?
”easiest thing ever, 24 hours, even before I’m President”
You got played, own it.
plasticmonkey
The US grows enough wheat. It doesn't need Russian wheat.
Blacklabel
No, I’m not such a disingenuous person to take 24 hours as literal.
it’s not even the end of Day 3.
itsonlyrocknroll
Kyiv reveals total Ukraine casualties in Putin’s war for first time
Zelenskyy said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 wounded. That compares with 600,000 dead and wounded reported for Russia.
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-announces-its-total-military-casualties-first-time/
The Ukrainian civilian casualties, evidence of atrocities/war crime?
Russia is in the driving seat and is on a roll???
Do you really contend such a callous statement will offer the families of the 600,000 dead servicemen solace comfort?
lincolnman
Yep, that's what he said and promised - here's the exact quote if you didn't see it: “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
Indeed - making a clear promise to end a war and save lives - and then failing to keep it - it's beyond "unserious and disingenuous" - it's a "huuuge" failure... But then, he also failed to keep his promise to build the wall and have Mexico pay for it...
MAGA-world should remember the old saying; "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me....
So painfully failing...and it's only been one day...
Wasabi
Look at this picture, what is the guy thinking? Isnt he supposed to be the president of the US and not a low budget TV star?
bass4funk
True, sales went down to about $3billion, but to your point, this is why Russia wants to sell more wheat and soil so if they can make some sort of deal down the road, they most likely will.
kurisupisu
None of you know what is happening behind the scenes and for all you know, Donald Trump the second president of the United States is actually on his way to ending the war.
Look for an end to hostilities soon!
wallace
Some people might be surprised but soon Trump will give new weapons to Ukraine, not at the level of the former administration. Trump needs a peace deal and won't have it if Ukraine is very weak.
Dango bong
finally a real leader is President. Delivering on campaign promises from day 1. Thos who do not like common sense, start crying for the next 4 years!
Jimizo
It’s good advice for all.
Many took Trump literally last time when he said he’d build a wall, get rid of the debt, deliver great healthcare at a fraction of the cost and throw all illegals out.mm
How soon?
What are the odds? Are they “6/3” again?
Tokyo Guy
I can't find the exact line, but someone came up with a perfect encapsulation of MAGA "thought" when called out on Trump's BS. Something like, in this order,
1) "He didn't say that he would end the hostilities in one day"
2) "It was taken out of context"
3) "He might have said it but so what?"
4) "He said it and he was right"
(Come to think about it, replace "say" with "do" and you get their take on Musk's "roman salute"...)
bass4funk
I wouldn’t object to that, however, I would object to more tax money going to Zelenskyy, but that won’t happen so if it’s weapons, go for it
Ken
Is this a con tactic of pretending like option B is more valuable than option A so you have the world buying into the option you don't wish for? He does and doesn't support control over birth rights, he also does and doesn't support TikTok so is he now pretending to be against the Russians? On paper he has never threatened them so is he faking it now to throw people off?
Dango bong
This time he has a Republican congress. When he accomplishes his goals you Trump Derangement Syndrome people will search for another minor thing to cling to for crying... Calling him racist or something when he has never said a racist quote in his life.
Dango bong
Like it or not almost 70% of Americans want him in office and support every move he is making, including me.
iknowall
For the past 4 years Russia took advantage of the Biden administration weakness.
It's a Golden Age for America from now.
Peter Neil
russia has already had its pants sanctioned off. nothing left to sanction.
Jimizo
So he’ll do those things this time? Fair enough. Let’s see.
I just tend to judge politicians on what they deliver regarding key promises, including the politicians I vote for.
I’m a bit old-fashioned that way.
lincolnman
So on Day #1 of Trump's Presidency, he "failed to deliver"....
After bragging he could end the Russia-Ukraine war "in 24 hours"....24 hours have passed and the war seems to still be going on....
In other words, Trump made a promise, then welched on it...and we're surprised?
Let's look at some of Trump's past "welches"....
1) He said he won’t have time to play golf if elected president. But he has made more than 250 visits to his golf courses—a record for any president
2) He said he would repeal the Affordable Care Act, and replace it with something “beautiful.” It didn’t happen.
3) He promised to eliminate the federal deficit. He increased it by more than 7.2 trillion dollars.
4) He promised to lock up Hillary Clinton. He didn’t.
5) He promised to tear up the Iran nuclear deal and renegotiate a better one. Didn't happen.
There are hundreds more....the lesson here is TRUMP OPENLY LIES...take anything he says for what it's worth....NOTHING....
Burgerland
The root causes are known as: Russian imperialism."
That is just NATO and its fan club narrative.
Primusinter
wallace, I'm afraid you are the only right here. But Ukraine is running out of Ukrainians. And the demographic situation is catastrophic. In Ukraine, women have stopped having children. It remains only for British, Americans and others to send their military to fight against Russians. And that's another level. This is already a world war. And this is a new level of weapons. The Americans, of course, have unique weapons. But that's all you can't think of! You don't know how to think further. Russians also have weapons that you can't access. You can't talk to Russians the way Trump allowed in his post today. The Russians will not give in! And we're all in danger of a nuclear winter.. The world has acquired a couple more clowns in addition to Zel ... Can you guess who I'm talking about?
Jimizo
Is that true?
I hope you aren’t quoting Trump on that. He speaks more metaphorically.
Maybe doing the weave or something.
I'veSeenFootage
He won with 49.8 percent of the votes of adults who bothered to show up for the election. How is that "almost 70% of Americans" exactly?
Fos
As we all know the United States played a key role in generating and perpetuating this terrible conflict in Ukraine, and the good part is that Trump understands that, unlike the Biden administration, whose main aim together with Antony Blinken, was to please the warlords in Wall Street.
Majority of Ukrainians want peace negotiations to start. Russia has single-handedly stopped American aggression, and any negotiations will have to start with the military situation on the ground.
Burgerland
Threat of more sanctions on Russia and much less weapons supplies to Ukraine to bring both parties to the negotiating table and bring peace. Sounds good to me. Ukrainian public demands and deserves ceasefire talks asap.
Moscow doesn’t have any national security objectives with this war. They never have. "
Moscow said otherwise though, they likely know their objectives better.
Russia is in the driving seat and is on a roll..... If I had a ruble for every time I've heard that, I could purchase the USA back from Elon Musk."
Tell us how Ukraine is winning again then.
I'veSeenFootage
In this sentence "we" refers of course to "russian propagandists".
WoodyLee
""U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine, and added that these could also be applied to "other participating countries.""
Just Do It and stop this meatgrinder.
Primusinter
I have no idea if this is true or not. I don't care about that. And the question is not addressed to me. But the fact that Trump is lying is already being felt. Today, he stated in his post that 60 million Soviet people died in World War II, a number taken from the ceiling. Well, by calling Russia (apparently, he forgot that at that time Russia was a part of the great Soviet Union) America's assistant in World War II, he insulted real history. In short, congratulations to this world with a new clown :)
lincolnman
Better go back and read the title of the article....it says; "Trump threatens Russia, others with tariffs if Ukraine deal not reached"
Trump previously said; “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
Why don't you calm down, get back on topic, and address this clear Trump failure to deliver on his promise he gave to you?
Wasabi
100% trump fan reply! Good one.
Jimizo
Trump is a pathological liar but is also going senile. He’s an old man. The mistake can be put down to senility. The silky old goat was gibbering about Spain being part of BRICS.
I’d still say he has more sincerity and seriousness than the pro-Putin posters on here though.
Ricky Kaminski13
Black label, says a lot doesn’t it mate. Expect four years of this. Mental health issues for sure. Anger management? Hehe
This story will just be confusing because the narrative goes that Trump was a Russian shill of sorts. Him coming straight out overtly messaging to Putin, ‘that’s no way to run a country,’ and ‘all those wasted lives for what??’. oh and by the way, Tarifs…
No wonder our angry friends are already melting! As you clearly stated, he will end the war and they will find a way to twist that and complain. Is what it is!
Chabbawanga
The US is still buying Uranium, titanium, fertilisers, and a bunch of other strategic resources from Russia. You stick tariffs on them, US ends up paying more.
I'veSeenFootage
Yeah several months in and apparently Trump and his followers still haven't grasped the absolute basic fact that tariffs are not paid by the country you put the tariffs on. Thet are paid by the country that puts them.
It's as frightning as it is hilarious.
GuruMick
Putin "No ,no, not tariffs, please, I will do anything ....."
Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch where the tough broke....under sarcasm
Burgerland
What could save him for a limited time only is cutting the umbilicus with Putin and properly supporting Ukraine militarily."
Pro war NATO posters keep hoping.
Trump is sounding desperate. "
Unlikely, Demorat team hystericals on the other hand, sure are in a meltdown.
Indeed - making a clear promise to end a war and save lives - and then failing to keep it - it's beyond "unserious and disingenuous" -
Not near the level of Biden's famous " Nobody is above the law" which he followed by pardoning Hunter and his family & cronies. Now , that was disingenuous indeed.