United States President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 100% on Russian imports if Russia does not agree to end its invasion of Ukraine within 50 days.
The U.S. will also provide Ukraine with new missiles and anti-aircraft Patriot batteries, Trump said in a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. These weapons will be paid for by NATO members, according to Trump.
“We’re very, very unhappy with them, and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs, if you don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100%, they call them secondary tariffs,” said Trump.
While the U.S. does not engage in large-scale trade with Russia, the White House later said that tariffs of 100% would be added to Russian goods and countries buying oil from Russia would be sanctioned.
Goods imported to the U.S. from Russia totalled US$3 billion in 2024. This was a decrease of 34.2% from the previous year, with imports declining since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The most common goods imported by the U.S. from Russia included radioactive chemicals and fertilisers in May 2025, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken with Trump about the meeting with Rutte and the agreement to send new weapons.
“We discussed the necessary means and solutions with the President to provide better protection for people from Russian attacks and to strengthen our positions. We are ready to work as productively as possible to achieve peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the ASEAN summit last week to discuss a potential end to Russia’s invasion, with Rubio saying he had asked Lavrov for a plan on how the war would conclude.
The U.S. has held several rounds of direct talks with both Russian and Ukrainian officials in 2025. Ukraine has said it would agree to the U.S.’ recommended 30 day ceasefire, though Russia has repeatedly refused.
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