WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if its president, Vladimir Putin, fails to agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
“It’s very, very serious what I have in mind, if I have to do it, but I want to see it end,” Trump told a reporter who asked if Putin would face consequences. “We have economic sanctions. I’m talking about economic because we’re not going to get into a world war.”
The president has withheld long-threatened sanctions against Putin in his latest push to end the more than three-year-long war that has so far defied his efforts at mediation.
Trump is seeking one-on-one talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Putin. Though Zelenskiy has agreed in principle to such talks, Putin has not. The Kremlin has suggested no such meeting is currently on the cards.
“It will not be a world war, but it will be an economic war,” Trump said at a White House Cabinet meeting. “An economic war is going to be bad, and it’s going to be bad for Russia, and I don’t want that.”
He added: “Zelenskiy is not exactly innocent, either.”
Despite slow diplomatic progress, U.S. and European officials have been discussing potential security guarantees that Washington might provide Kyiv after a hypothetical deal is reached, potentially including support by air or intelligence sharing.
Trump has long suggested using economic tools as leverage against warring nations. He is preparing to slap 25% more in tariffs on India’s U.S.-bound exports on Wednesday over New Delhi’s Russian oil buying.
India is one of the biggest consumers of Russian oil.
Trump suggested on Tuesday that he was open to “using a very strong tariff system that’s very costly to Russia or Ukraine” to make peace.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Don Durfee and Nia Williams)
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