US president says his Russian counterpart\u2019s questioning of Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s credibility could delay ceasefire<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump has said he is \u201cpissed off\u201d with Vladimir Putin<\/a> over his approach to a ceasefire in Ukraine and threatened to levy tariffs on Moscow\u2019s oil exports if the Russian leader does not agree to a truce within a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US president indicated he would levy a 25% or 50% tariff that would affect countries buying Russian oil in a telephone interview with NBC News, during which he also threatened to bomb Iran and did not rule out using force in Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine<\/a>, and if I think it was Russia\u2019s fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia\u2019s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can\u2019t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all \u2026 on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The abrupt change of direction came after Putin had tried to attack the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> on Friday, Trump said. Appearing on Russian television, Putin had suggested Ukraine could be placed under a temporary UN-led government to organise fresh elections before negotiating a peace deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has previously called the Ukrainian president a dictator, but on Sunday he said: \u201cI was very angry, pissed off\u201d when Putin \u201cstarted getting into Zelenskyy\u2019s credibility, because that\u2019s not going in the right location, you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said \u201cnew leadership means you\u2019re not gonna have a deal for a long time, right\u201d and that he wanted to exert pressure on the Kremlin, which has thrown up a string of questions about a peace settlement and only agreed to limited maritime and energy ceasefires so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump repeated that \u201cif a deal isn\u2019t made, and if I think it was Russia\u2019s fault, I\u2019m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia\u201d, but then indicated he would quickly back down if there was progress on a ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe anger dissipates quickly\u201d if Putin \u201cdoes the right thing\u201d, Trump said, adding that he expected to talk to his Russian counterpart this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, speaking to a group of journalists, Trump pointed to similar tariffs imposed on Venezuela, which he said \u201chad a very strong impact\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know that every ship just got out and they left. A lot of them left. They dropped the hoses right into the ocean and they left,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked by the Guardian if his relationship with Putin had fallen to its lowest point, Trump responded: \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to go back on his word \u2026 I was disappointed in a certain way. Some of the things that he said over the last day or two having to do with Zelenskyy \u2026 he\u2019s supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or you don\u2019t like him. So I wasn\u2019t happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US president also used the earlier NBC interview to tell Iran that if \u201cthey don\u2019t make a deal\u201d to curb their nuclear weapons programme, \u201cthere will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before\u201d. Officials from both countries were engaged in negotiations, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also mentioned fresh economic sanctions as an alternative. \u201cThere\u2019s a chance that, if they don\u2019t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI am considering putting on secondary tariffs on Iran until such time as a deal is signed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondary tariffs are a novel idea. The US introduced a 25% tariff last week on countries that buy crude oil and liquid fuels from Venezuela, the largest of which is China, after Trump accused the Latin American country of sending criminals and gang members into the US under the cover of migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russian oil exports are already subject to a range of sanctions from the US, UK, EU and other G7 countries, leaving China and India as the two largest buyers, according to the International Energy Agency<\/a>. What is not yet clear is whether the measures proposed would be effective once they come into force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finland indicated it may have had a role in Trump\u2019s intervention. A day before the interview, Trump spent time with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The two men had breakfast and lunch and played a round of golf on an unofficial visit, Stubb\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy message in the conversations I have with the president is that we need a ceasefire, and we need a deadline for the ceasefire, and then we need to pay a price for breaking a ceasefire,\u201d Stubb told the Guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, number one, we need a ceasefire date, and I would prefer that to be Easter, say, 20 April, when President Trump has been in office for three months. If by then it\u2019s not accepted or is broken by Russia, there needs to be consequences. And those consequences should be sanctions, maximum sanctions, and we continue the pressure up until the 20th and then we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a previous interview with NBC on Saturday, Trump said: \u201cWe\u2019ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%\u201d and argued that while there\u2019s a \u201cgood possibility that we could do it without military force \u2026 I don\u2019t take anything off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the election campaign, Trump had said that he could end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, comments he more recently claimed were \u201ca little bit sarcastic\u201d. That has proved elusive and his tactics to force Russia and Ukraine into agreeing a ceasefire have so far been focused on bullying and pressurising Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, berated Zelenskyy at the Oval Office a month ago, which was followed by Washington cutting off intelligence and military aid. Kyiv then signed up to the principle of a 30-day ceasefire if the Kremlin would reciprocate in return for intelligence and aid being restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putin said earlier this month that although he was in favour of a ceasefire, \u201cthere are nuances\u201d and any halt in fighting should \u201cremove the root causes of this crisis\u201d, a sweeping but vague demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Russian president and his allies have called for the demilitarisation of Ukraine, insisted that the presence of western troops as peacekeepers would be unacceptable and demanded the full annexation of four regions, three of which it only partially occupies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two people were killed and 25 were injured in and around Ukraine\u2019s second city, Kharkiv, in Russian attacks on Saturday night and Sunday morning. A military hospital was among the buildings struck. Ukraine\u2019s general staff denounced what it said was a \u201cdeliberate, targeted shelling\u201d, a rare acknowledgement of military casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump also claimed to journalists on Sunday that Ukraine\u2019s president was trying to back out of the minerals deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd if he does that he\u2019s got some problems. Big, big problems. We made a deal on rare earth and now he\u2019s saying, well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe wants to be a member of Nato. Well, he was never going to be a member of Nato. He understands that. So if he\u2019s looking to renegotiate the deal, he\u2019s got big problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zelenskyy last week told reporters the US was \u201cconstantly\u201d changing the terms of a proposed minerals deal, but he did not want Washington to think he was against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s interventions follow a difficult week for the White House, during which senior administration officials were criticised for discussing attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen on the Signal messaging app<\/a>, which is not authorised by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The highly sensitive discussion, which included bombing plans, leaked because a journalist from the Atlantic magazine was mistakenly added to the chat by the US national security adviser, Mike Waltz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n