‘Very angry’ Trump threatens Russia with tariffs over Putin’s criticism of Zelensky

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he was “very angry” at Vladimir Putin for comments he made last week criticising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and threatened Russia with fresh economic sanctions should it block a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

“I was very angry, pissed off … when Putin started getting into Zelensky’s credibility, because that’s not going in the right direction”, Trump said in a phone interview with NBC News, referring to Putin describing the Ukrainian president as “illegitimate” and calling for his government to be replaced by a temporary UN-supervised administration charged with overseeing the transfer of power to a “capable government” with which Russia would be willing to negotiate an end to the war.

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia”, Trump said.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States”, the US president continued, adding that he would impose a “25- to 50-point tariff on all oil” from Russia.

Trump himself harshly criticised Zelensky on the campaign trail last year and during his first month in office, labelling him a “dictator without elections” and blaming Ukraine for starting the war before their war of words culminated in an extraordinary confrontation at the White House in February.

By contrast, he has offered no such criticism of Putin and has frequently spoken of his good relationship with the Russian leader, though he conceded last week that the Russians may be “dragging their feet” over a deal to end the war.

Later on Sunday, Trump said he had set a “psychological deadline” for Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine before softening his tone on Putin, expressing his belief that the Russian leader would keep his word on any truce agreement.

“You’re talking about Putin. I don’t think he’s going to go back on his word. I’ve known him for a long time. We’ve always gotten along well”, Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

He also warned that Zelensky would face “big problems” if he withdrew from a long-awaited deal on rare earth metals between Ukraine and the US, and stressed once again that Ukraine would never “be a member of NATO” — effectively conceding a key prerequisite for a peace deal that has long been demanded by Moscow.