Trump hints he's ready to impose second phase of sanctions against Russia

Donald Trump has already imposed a 25 per cent penalty on India for buying Russian crude, coupled with a 25 per cent secondary tariff

US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) hinted that he is ready to impose the second phase of sanctions against Russia while speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from the US Open. In a video posted by Fox News, Trump said, "Nobody has been tougher on Russia than me. But I'm not happy about the whole situation."

 

Trump has already imposed a 25 per cent penalty on India for buying Russian crude, coupled with a 25 per cent secondary tariff. The 50 per cent tariff on the import of Indian goods came into effect on August 27.

 

 

Meanwhile, in an interview with NBC News on Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that Washington is willing to work with European allies on expanding sanctions against buyers of Russian oil, aiming to “collapse” Moscow’s economy.

 

Building on his claims, Trump said that several European leaders will visit the US in the coming days to discuss the conflict and explore possible solutions.

'War a great waste of humanity'

Stating that the Russia-Ukraine war is a "great waste of humanity", Trump said that he is "confident" of getting the conflict settled. Trump said, "It doesn't affect us, because it's not our soldiers, but Russia and Ukraine are losing 7,000 soldiers every single week. It's such a horrible waste of humanity. So no, I am not thrilled with what's happening there." 

 

Trump's comment came shortly after Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the Ukraine war on Saturday night (local time), deploying more than 800 drones and striking a Kyiv government building for the first time. An infant was among at least two people killed during drone strikes on several residential buildings in the Ukrainian capital.

Have solved seven wars: Trump

Reiterating his claims of resolving seven wars, Trump said he thought the Russia-Ukraine conflict would be the easiest to solve, given his good relations with Putin. "I settled seven wars; this would have been maybe the easiest one to settle of all. But with war, you never know what you're getting," he said.

 

However, Trump affirmed that he is going to get the war settled. "I believe we're going to get it settled. But I am not happy with them. I'm not happy with anything having to do with that war. It's just such a waste of great humanity," he said.

 

On Friday, while hosting a high-profile dinner for tech CEOs at the White House, Trump reiterated his past claims of having resolved seven wars, adding that he had personally stopped “three wars.”

'Will have a deal on Gaza soon'

Promising that there will be a deal on Gaza soon, Trump said, "It's a hell of a problem. Again, it's a problem we want to solve, for the Middle East, for Israel, for everybody."

 

"They've got hostages. It could be a little bit less than 20 because, you know, they tend to die. They tend to die even though they're young people, and young people don't die. Young people stay alive. But with this whole thing, they tend to die," he added.