
The Kremlin is unlikely to be alarmed by Trump's threat of new sanctions against Russia.
The Kremlin is unlikely to be overly excited by US President Donald Trump's threat to impose new sanctions, high tariffs and taxes on Russia if it does not reach an agreement to end the war with Ukraine, the AP agency analyzes, recalling that the US has already banned the import of almost all products from Russia, and that the country is already under numerous sanctions.
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Trump today called on Russian President Vladimir Putin, via his social media account, Truth Social, to “calm down and end this crazy war.” He added that he had no desire to harm Russia, noting that it played a key role in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, but warned of punitive measures if the war in Ukraine did not end soon.
"If we don't make a deal soon, I will have no choice but to impose high tariffs and duties, as well as sanctions, on everything Russia sells to the United States, as well as various other participating countries," Trump said.
The problem with this threat is that Russia currently exports nothing to the US except small amounts of fertilizers, animal feed, inorganic materials, and machinery. Oil was Russia's largest import, but in 2023, those imports were completely stopped.
Total US imports from Russia in 2024 are $2,8 billion. In 2023, they were $4,5 billion, and in 2022, before the imposition of most of the current sanctions, they were $14,4 billion, according to US government statistics.
Some sanctions against Russia were imposed before the term of US President Joseph Biden. The former were imposed during the presidency of Barack Obama in 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, and the latter were imposed during Donald Trump's first term (2017-2021).
Moreover, the "various other participating countries" that Trump mentions are Iran and North Korea - the ones that help Russia the most, and they are under even harsher US sanctions than the ones that Russia is under.