Donald Trump welcomed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to the Oval Office of the White House. The US president began by saying he was “very dissatisfied” with Russia and threatened Putin with “secondary tariffs” if an agreement to end the war in Ukraine was not reached within 50 days.

“I was disappointed in Putin because I thought we had a deal two months ago, but it looks like it didn’t happen,” Trump said. “So we’re going to put secondary tariffs on if there’s no deal in 50 days. It’s very simple. And it’s going to be 100 percent. That’s it. It couldn’t be simpler than that. That’s just the way it is.”
Trump has previously threatened “secondary tariffs,” which he actually meant “secondary sanctions”—sanctions against buyers of Russian energy. The Washington Post understands that this is what he meant, not a 100 percent tariff on Russian imports.
Trump also announced at the meeting that European countries would buy American-made weapons to help Ukraine defend itself in its war against Russia. Rutte, who was sitting next to him, called the idea a “really big deal.” The NATO secretary general added that the agreement “could also mean that countries can quickly get equipment to Ukraine, and then the United States” would replenish the supplies of the countries involved, “because speed is key.”
Trump is increasingly unhappy with Putin, recently saying that they are sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine because he no longer trusts the Russian president. “He talks nice, then he bombs everyone the next morning. So there is a little problem here, and I don’t like that,” Donald Trump said of Vladimir Putin.