Trump hints at more Russia sanctions; weapon aid to Ukraine in question
President of the USA, 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 and added that he is ready to meet with Vladimir Putin whenever the Russian president wants.
"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."
"We are talking with Zelensky, we will be speaking with President Putin very soon and will see how it goes," he announced. He stated that while the president of Ukraine "strongly" declares readiness to negotiate, he does not know if the same can be said about Putin. However, he added that Russia should be interested in peace because it is suffering large losses. In this context, he mentioned the number of 800,000 soldiers (on Monday, he mentioned a million) and 600,000-700,000 on the Ukrainian side (on Monday, he mentioned 600,000).
Trump once again said that the USA spent too much on aid to Ukraine compared to Europe, claiming—contrary to available data—that they spent $200 billion more on this purpose. He reiterated that the defense spending threshold for NATO countries should be not 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 discussed the war in Ukraine during a recent phone conversation with China's leader, Xi Jinping.
Will the USA 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 of imposing tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, adding that he intends to do so on February 1st. He noted—denying reports in the "Wall Street Journal" about this—that this threat has nothing to do with his intention to renegotiate the USMCA (USA, Mexico, Canada) trade agreement but is related to illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling.
In this context, Trump once again criticized the European Union, which, in his opinion, treats America "very badly."
