President Donald Trump might as well not wait on his coming call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin: Impose those secondary tariffs on Russian oil now, so Vlad finally realizes you’re serious.
Trump raised the new tariff threat over the weekend, noting that he’s “very angry” and “pissed off” at Putin for stalling the US drive for a lasting peace in the Ukraine-Russia war.
Putin’s minions this month agreed to partial cease-fires in the Black Sea and regarding attacks on energy facilities — only for the Kremlin to rapidly break both agreements even as it added new demands for embracing any accord at all.
Trump is still giving Putin room to back off: “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,” the president told NBC.
“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” he elaborated.
Putin’s behavior so far gives every sign that he thinks he can play Trump for a sucker; our president will only be doing everyone a favor if he acts now to disabuse Vlad of that delusion.
Toss on the tariffs now, and start preparing more pain for Putin if he doesn’t finally start playing ball for real.
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