Desk Report,
Trump warns of tough tariffs on Russia, announces sending state-of-the-art weapons to Ukraine
US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will send “the most advanced weapons” to Ukraine through the Western military alliance NATO. At the same time, he threatened Russia with tough tariffs if no agreement is reached within the next 50 days to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump warns of tough tariffs on Russia, announces sending state-of-the-art weapons to Ukraine
After a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte in Washington, Trump said, “We want to make sure that Ukraine can do what it wants.”
Rutte confirmed that the United States will provide Ukraine with everything it needs through NATO and that European countries will bear the cost.
Trump said that European countries will send their own Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. In return, the United States will provide those countries with the same defense systems. Ukraine depends on these defense systems to repel Russian air attacks.
Neither Rutte nor Trump gave details of what kind of weapons would be sent to Ukraine. However, Rutte spoke of “missiles and ammunition.” And Trump said that billions of dollars of ‘state-of-the-art weapons’ will be sent to the battlefield quickly to help Ukraine.
Meanwhile, regarding tariffs, Trump said that if there is no peace agreement, countries that do business with Russia will have to pay 100% tariffs when selling products to the United States. For example, if India continues to buy oil from Russia, then this tariff will be imposed on Indian products. This will increase the price of Indian products so much that US traders will buy them from other countries at a lower price. As a result, India’s revenue will decrease.
The goal of this tariff is also to weaken the Russian economy. Almost one-third of the country’s national revenue comes from the sale of oil and gas. In addition, more than 60 percent of the country’s exports come from this sector. Therefore, this tariff could have a negative impact on the country’s economy.
However, after Trump’s threat, the Moscow stock market index has increased. Because investors were afraid of more stringent measures from the United States.
On the other hand, Russia has not yet responded to Trump’s threat. But pro-Kremlin analyst and former Putin adviser Sergei Markov called the tariff announcement a “hoax,” saying it showed Trump had “stepped back from trying to bring peace to Ukraine.”
