Donald Trump has threatened Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not struck soon, as the new US president tries to increase pressure on Moscow to start negotiations with Kyiv.
Writing in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said Russia’s economy was failing and urged Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war”.Without a deal, Trump said, “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.”
The statement marks Trump’s most detailed efforts yet to end the war in Ukraine. During the election campaign, he said he would end the war “in 24 hours” if elected. “Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better,” he said.
The key here is that he said “and other participating countries”, as though he had the power to set tarrifs on behalf of other countries, like England did in China during the century of humiliation. Outright neocolonizing of Europe would be a fuck.
I do expect he will try to put tariffs on BRICS countries, and he might use Russia as the initial justification. The west is very likely to end up in a severe economic crisis as a result.
Oh, he meant (Russia and other participating countries) and not (United States and other participating countries)? That makes more sense.