Trump signals tougher stance on Russia amid Ukraine conflict
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that he will likely impose additional sanctions on Russia. He also mentioned that he is considering whether to continue sending weapons to Ukraine. He added that he is ready to meet with Vladimir Putin whenever the Russian president is willing.
- Sounds likely - said Donald Trump, responding to a question about whether he plans to impose additional sanctions on Russia if Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
Trump comments on the war in Ukraine
Asked about further military support for Ukraine, Trump replied that he is "checking it."
- He announced that we are talking with Zelensky and will be speaking with President Putin very soon to see how it goes. He stated that while the president of Ukraine "strongly" declares readiness to negotiate, he is unsure the same can be said about Putin. However, he added that Russia should be interested in peace because it suffers large losses. In this context, he mentioned the number of 800,000 soldiers (on Monday, he mentioned a million) on Russia's side and 600,000-700,000 on the Ukrainian side (on Monday, he mentioned 600,000).
Trump once again said that the United States spent too much on aid to Ukraine compared to Europe, claiming - contrary to available data - that they spent £158 billion more on this purpose. He reiterated that the defence spending threshold for NATO countries should not be 2% of GDP, but 5%. He mentioned Poland as one of the few countries that, during his term, spent more than the required 2%.
The new president also said that he recently spoke with China's leader, Xi Jinping, about the war in Ukraine.
Will the US impose tariffs on other countries? Trump doesn't change his mind
"I told him, you should end this. Since he hasn't done much about it" - Trump recounted.
Trump reiterated his threats to impose tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, adding that he intends to do so on February 1st. He denied reports in the Wall Street Journal that this threat has nothing to do with his intention to renegotiate the USMCA (United States, Mexico, Canada) trade agreement but is related to illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling.
In this context, Trump once again criticised the European Union, which, in his opinion, treats America "very badly."
