US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on July 14, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump said on Monday he will impose "very steep tariffs" on Russia if there is no peace agreement in place to end the war in Ukraine in 50 days. It's a sign that he may be inching closer to penalizing Russian President Vladimir Putin after publicly grousing he feels strung along.
Trump said he was "disappointed" in Putin for the scarce progress on a Ukraine peace deal. He complained that Putin expresses a desire for peace during their one-on-one calls, only to continue launching missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv or other parts of the country shortly after.
"So based on that, we’re going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days. It’s very simple. And they’ll be at 100%," Trump told reporters at the White House. "And that’s the way it is. It can be more simple. That’s just the way it is.”
He added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune will be visiting the White House to discuss the GOP Senate proposal for more sanctions on Moscow. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on details regarding the tariffs.
It's not the first time that Trump has mused about getting misled by Putin. In April, Trump posted on Truth Social that Putin's onslaught "makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war; he’s just tapping me along.”
Republicans in Congress, particularly foreign policy hawks, have prodded the Trump administration to get tougher on Russia as the war in Ukraine drags on. Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina is crafting a bipartisan proposal to impose 500% secondary sanctions on countries and companies that trade with Russia.
"We're going after the people who keep Putin in business, and additional sanctions on Russia itself," Graham said Sunday to "Face the Nation" on CBS News. "This is truly a sledgehammer available to President Trump to end this war."
Trump has issued tariff threats not just against adversaries, but close allies, too. Over the weekend, he warned in a pair of letters that he may impose steep tariffs on Mexico and the European Union if broad trade agreements aren't reached by August 1. The deadline is similar for dozens of other trade partners as well. European leaders denounced Trump's letter on Monday as "unacceptable."
