 "Donald Trump says he may let Russia, Ukraine 'fight for a little while'")
US President Donald Trump said it might be necessary to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a little while” before brokering a peace deal and suggested he might be willing to implement fresh sanctions on both countries if he determined the conflict wasn’t going to end.
“Sometimes you let them fight for a little while,” Trump said during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday. “You see it in hockey, you see it in sports, the referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart.”
Trump said he would be willing to punish both countries if he did not believe they were sincere about peace.
“It could be on both countries to be honest,” Trump said. “You know, it takes two to tango, but they’ll be, we’re going to be very tough, whether it’s Russia or anybody else.”
European leaders worried that Trump, who has expressed frustration over efforts to bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, will abandon those talks and US support for Kyiv. Trump said he believed Germany agreed with him about the need for an end to the conflict with Ukraine.
“My personal view is clear on that we are on the side of Ukraine, and we are trying to get them stronger and stronger, just to make Putin stop this war,” Merz added.
The US president also said he understood that Russia was likely to retaliate after a Ukrainian drone attack that targeted airfields and embarrassed the Kremlin.
“He got hit,” Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he spoke with earlier in the week. “He’s been doing hitting, so I understand it, but he got hit hard, and I don’t think he’s playing games.”
Trump’s rhetoric may alarm European partners, who are hoping to convince him to ramp up pressure on Putin to force the Russian leader to the negotiating table. Putin has rejected calls for a ceasefire; Trump is expected to meet with key US allies at the G-7 and a Nato summit later this month.
“We are all looking for measures and instruments to bring this terrible war to an end,” Merz said. “So let’s talk about what we can do jointly, and we are ready to do what we can. And you know that we gave support to Ukraine and that we are looking for more pressure on Russia.”
Trump said the leaders would also discuss a potential trade deal with the European Union that he hoped would yield an increase in US energy exports.
“We’ll have a good trade deal. I mean, I guess that will be mostly determined by the European Union, but you’re a very big part of that,” Trump said.
Trump highlighted his efforts to bolster US energy production and find more markets.
“We have so much oil and gas,” Trump said, adding that he hoped “we’re going to make that a part of our trade deal.”
Thursday’s meeting between Merz and Trump was the provided an early test for the 69-year-old conservative who became Germany’s new leader last month. Merz is visiting Washington in a bid to bolster ties strained by Trump’s sweeping tariffs and Russia’s war in Ukraine — issues expected to dominate their agenda.
Trade talks
Merz presented Trump the birth certificate of his German grandfather, who was born in the village of Kallstadt in 1869 and later immigrated to New York as a 16-year-old and made his fortune in the restaurant business.
“We’ll put it up in a place of honor,” Trump said.
The gift is part of Merz’s charm offensive and is supposed to remind the US president of his German roots. But it clearly also carries a political message for Trump, who has criticized post-war Germany for having benefited from US military protection without having paid its fair share.
The timing of Merz’s visit is critical for trade talks, with just weeks to go before Trump’s threatened 50 per cent tariff on nearly all European Union goods is set to take effect. The EU and the US have been engaged in talks to avert higher import taxes, but the process has been rocky, with Trump bemoaning the level of progress and issuing fresh threats that have heightened tensions.
Trump on Tuesday signed an order doubling US steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent, angering European officials, who say the move undermines negotiations and threatened retaliatory measures if a deal is not reached.
Trump has suggested that if he is unable to reach deals with trading partners that he will just settle on a tariff level.
“We’ll end up, hopefully, with a trade deal or, or we’ll do something, you know, we’ll do the tariffs,” Trump told Merz on Thursday. “I mean, I’m okay with the tariffs, or we make a deal with the trade.”
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and his European counterpart both struck an optimistic tone after a meeting in Paris on Wednesday. EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said talks were headed in the “right direction,” though he noted the new levies were not helpful for maintaining momentum. Greer said in a statement that negotiations were “advancing quickly.”
Trump’s complaints about the EU are longstanding. He recently accused the bloc of slow-walking negotiations and unfairly targeting US companies with lawsuits and regulations. He threatened the higher 50 per cent tariff on the bloc starting June 1, but delayed it until July 9 after a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
At home, the far-right Alternative for Germany wants Merz to break with Brussels to resolve the trade dispute, an idea the chancellor has rejected.