WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if its president, Vladimir Putin, fails to agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very, very serious what I have in mind, if I have to do it, but I want to see it end,\u201d Trump told a reporter who asked if Putin would face consequences. \u201cWe have economic sanctions. I\u2019m talking about economic because we\u2019re not going to get into a world war.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president has withheld long-threatened sanctions against Putin in his latest push to end the more than three-year-long war that has so far defied his efforts at mediation.<\/p>\n
Trump is seeking one-on-one talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin. Though Zelensky has agreed in principle to such talks, Putin has not. The Kremlin has suggested no such meeting is currently on the cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will not be a world war, but it will be an economic war,\u201d Trump said at a White House Cabinet meeting. \u201cAn economic war is going to be bad, and it\u2019s going to be bad for Russia, and I don\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cZelensky is not exactly innocent, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite slow diplomatic progress, US and European officials have been discussing potential security guarantees that Washington might provide Kyiv after a hypothetical deal is reached, potentially including support by air or intelligence sharing.<\/p>\n
Trump has long suggested using economic tools as leverage against warring nations. He is preparing to slap 25 percent more in tariffs on India\u2019s US-bound exports on Wednesday over New Delhi\u2019s Russian oil buying.<\/p>\n
India is one of the biggest consumers of Russian oil.<\/p>\n
Trump suggested on Tuesday that he was open to \u201cusing a very strong tariff system that\u2019s very costly to Russia or Ukraine\u201d to make peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if its president, Vladimir Putin, fails to agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very serious what I have in mind, if I have to do it, but I want to see it end,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-499344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n