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Donald Trump said he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin for foot-dragging in talks over a ceasefire with Ukraine, as the US president threatened secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil if no deal is done.
Trump’s comments on Sunday revealed the frustration at the White House with the Russian president as negotiations over a settlement of the war in Ukraine continue without a clear breakthrough.
The new threat to hit imports from countries that purchase Russian oil come as Trump prepares to impose tariffs on goods from many of America’s largest trading partners on Wednesday. The president has proclaimed the moment “liberation day”, but the plan has caused turmoil in markets and anxiety among businesses and governments worldwide.
Trump’s outburst at Moscow is a shift in tone for the US president, who for weeks blamed Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, for being reluctant to strike a deal.
The US president chided Putin for attacking Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Kyiv’s leader.
“If we’re in the midst of a negotiation, you could say that I was very angry, pissed off . . . when Putin started getting into Zelenskyy’s credibility,” Trump told NBC News. “That’s not going in the right location, you understand?”
While Ukraine has agreed to American demands for a full 30-day ceasefire, Russia has rebuffed the plan and conceded only to a truce regarding energy infrastructure targets and maritime operations in the Black Sea — and only if the west first lifts sanctions on some agricultural goods.
Zelenskyy has accused Russia of breaking the energy ceasefire at least twice since it was agreed. “Russia must be forced into peace — only pressure will work,” he said this weekend.
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb, who spent seven hours with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday including a round of golf, told the Financial Times the US president was “running out of patience” with Putin over the ceasefire.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Stubb on a visit to London where he will on Monday brief British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on his discussions with Trump.
In a phone call on Sunday evening, the UK leader updated the US president on discussions between more than 30 nations supporting Kyiv in Paris this week.
“The leaders agreed on the need to keep up the collective pressure on Putin,” according to a Downing Street spokesperson. Trump and Starmer also discussed negotiations on an economic deal between the two nations.
Stubb said he had proposed setting a deadline of April 20 — which marks three months since Trump returned to the White House — to accept a 30-day unconditional truce on land, sea and in the air. Both western and eastern Christian churches will celebrate Easter on April 20 this year, a rare calendar alignment.
“The Russians are stalling, they’re coming up with new conditions,” Stubb said. “Let’s call Putin’s bluff for what it is. Russia at this stage does not want peace. So we need to force peace on Russia.”
Stubb shared details of his meeting with Trump in a telephone call with Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president said on Sunday evening.
“We need to engage more with America, find ways to force Russia into peace, and work on security guarantees, which must become our next step after the ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said.
“Russia continues looking for excuses to drag this war out even further. Putin is playing the same game he has since 2014.”
Trump had previously threatened Russia with new tariffs and sanctions if it resisted an agreement, but expanding the trade bluster to buyers of Russian oil in other countries will add more pressure on Putin.
“If a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia,” Trump told NBC.
Trump did not offer a clear explanation of what the plan would involve. He said “anybody buying oil from Russia will not be able to sell their product, any product, not just oil, into the United States”, but also said there would be a “25 to 50-point tariff on all oil”.
The US president added that he would slap “secondary tariffs” on Iran if they failed to make a deal on its nuclear programme, as he renewed his threat of “bombing” Tehran if they did not strike an agreement.
Additional reporting by Jim Pickard in London