Trump says losing patience with Putin, eyeing bank, oil sanctions
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump met in August for direct talks about the war in Ukraine.
PHOTO: DOUG MILLS/NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said his patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin was “running out fast” and threatened Moscow with new economic sanctions as efforts to broker ceasefire talks with Ukraine have faltered.
“It’ll be hitting very hard with sanctions (on) banks and having to do with oil and tariffs also,” Mr Trump said on Sept 12 in an interview on Fox News.
Still, he insisted that he has already “done a lot” to punish Russia, noting expanded tariffs he placed on India for purchasing Russian energy, and argued that “this is a Europe problem, much more than our problem”.
Russia on Sept 12 said negotiations with Ukraine were on “pause”
“Communication channels exist. They are established. Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through these channels, but for now, perhaps, we can talk about a pause,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sept 12, without elaborating.
The US is expected to urge its allies in the Group of Seven (G-7) to impose tariffs as high as 100 per cent on China and India – for their purchases of Russian oil – at a meeting of finance ministers on Sept 12.
The US will also tell the G-7 countries they should create a legal pathway to seize immobilised sovereign Russian assets and consider seizing or using the principle of those assets to fund Ukraine’s defence, according to a US proposal seen by Bloomberg.
The vast majority of the about US$300 billion (S$385 billion) of Moscow’s immobilised assets are in Europe.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump told European officials he was willing to impose sweeping new tariffs on India and China to push Mr Putin to the negotiating table with Ukraine, but only if nations in Europe do so as well.
Mr Trump asked this when he called into a meeting with senior US and European Union officials in Washington and said the US would be willing to mirror tariffs imposed by Europe on either country, Bloomberg reported earlier. BLOOMBERG
