Trump said he is “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin!
New York City, March 30 (EFE).-
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he is “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin’s criticism of Ukraine’s leadership and threatened Moscow with tariffs on oil exports within a month if he doesn’t agree to end the war.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump told NBC in a phone call.
Trump elaborated that this would mean that “if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States” and that the tariffs could reach 50 percent.
He also said that the taxes would take effect in a month if there is no ceasefire agreement, that Putin knows he is angry, but that he has “a very good relationship with him” and “the anger dissipates quickly … if he does the right thing.”
In fact, Trump stated that the pair plan to speak again this week.
The US president’s statements come after Putin proposed on Friday to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government with a temporary administration to hold elections in Ukraine and, according to him, ultimately begin negotiating a peace agreement.
“Under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine,” Putin said at the time.
Trump, who has previously falsely called the Ukrainian president a dictator and publicly berated him in the White House, on Sunday he said: “I was very angry, pissed off” when Putin “started getting into Zelenskyy’s credibility, because that’s not going in the right location, you understand?”
He said “new leadership means you’re not gonna have a deal for a long time.”
Trump told Newsmax in an interview broadcast Tuesday that Russia may be “dragging its feet,” but that he wants to see an end to the war.
That same day, the White House announced that it had reached agreements with Russia and Ukraine to ensure “safe navigation” in the Black Sea and to develop “measures to implement” the prohibition of attacks on energy facilities in both countries.
The US already has various sanctions against Russia, but, according to the US press, the administration considered easing them as part of a path toward improving relations.
However, the Kremlin has emphasized that its approval of the ceasefire agreement is subject to the lifting of the sanctions.
Meanwhile, Trump also threatened Iran with bombings and secondary tariffs if they do not reach an agreement on its nuclear program, after Tehran rejected direct negotiations with Washington last week.
“If they don’t make a deal,” Trump said about Iran, “there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
He said that US and Iranian officials are “talking,” without providing further details.
In addition, the US president warned Tehran of the possibility of imposing “secondary tariffs like four years ago” if they do not reach an agreement on its nuclear program.
During his first term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and other powers that established strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
The US accuses Iran of enriching uranium to levels beyond what is justifiable in a civilian atomic energy program, and Washington claims, this is because they are secretly pursuing an agenda to develop nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated Sunday that his country is open to indirect negotiations with the US and affirmed that it is the Americans’ behavior that determines whether the talks continue.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has called for negotiations with Tehran and even sent the letter urging it, but at the same time he has resumed the so-called “maximum pressure” policy against Iran to cut off sales of oil and has launched other military threats similar to Sunday’s. EFE
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