Trump threatens Russia with tariffs and boosts US weapons for Ukraine
[July 15, 2025]
By CHRIS MEGERIAN and ILLIA NOVIKOV
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday threatened Russia
with steep tariffs and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American
weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance toward Moscow after
months of frustration about unsuccessful negotiations for ending the
war.
The latest steps reflect an evolving approach from the Republican
president, who promised to swiftly resolve the war started by Russian
President Vladimir Putin when he invaded Ukraine three years ago. Trump
once focused his criticism on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
whom he described as unwilling to compromise, but more recently has
expressed growing irritation toward Putin.
“My conversations with him are very pleasant, and then the missiles go
off at night,” Trump said. He complained that “it just keeps going on
and on and on.”
Trump said he would implement “severe tariffs” unless a peace deal is
reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be
implemented, but he described them as secondary tariffs, meaning they
would target Russia's trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in
the global economy.
In addition, Trump said European allies would buy “billions and
billions” of dollars of U.S. military equipment to be transferred to
Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country’s supplies of weapons. He
made the announcement in the Oval Office alongside NATO
Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Included in the plan are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for
Ukraine as it fends off Russian drones and missiles.
Doubts were recently raised about Trump’s commitment to supply Ukraine
when the Pentagon paused shipments over concerns that U.S. stockpiles
were running low.
Rutte said Germany, Finland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom
and Denmark would be among the buyers to supply Ukraine. He said “speed
is of the essence here,” and he suggested that some weapons would be
rushed to Ukraine and later replaced with purchases from the U.S.
Later Monday, Zelenskyy posted about having spoken with Trump by phone
and said he “discussed the necessary means and solutions with the
President to provide better protection for people from Russian attacks
and to strengthen our positions.”
Zelenskyy added that Trump had “agreed to catch up more often by phone
and coordinate our steps in the future.”
Trump exasperated with Putin
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and he
repeatedly asserted that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a
peace deal. He also accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called
him a “dictator without elections.”
But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore
down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching
deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media
post that the Russian leader “has gone absolutely CRAZY!”.
While Rutte was in Washington, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and
Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said he had “a productive conversation” with Kellogg about
strengthening Ukrainian air defenses, joint arms production and
purchasing U.S. weapons in conjunction with European countries, as well
as the possibility of tighter international sanctions on the Kremlin.
“We hope for the leadership of the United States, because it is clear
that Moscow will not stop unless its ... ambitions are stopped by
force,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Talks on sending Patriot missiles
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with
hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air
defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly
civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and
1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive
back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile)
front line.
Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot
air defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for
the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.
A senior Russian lawmaker, Konstantin Kosachev, said Trump’s plan had
“only one beneficiary — the US military-industrial complex.”
Germany has offered to finance two Patriot systems, government
spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin. The country has
already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary
General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday,
July 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington
on Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“We are determined to assume greater responsibility for Europe’s
deterrence and defense, while recognizing that the contribution of
the United States of America remains indispensable to our collective
security,” Pistorius told reporters.
'Weapons flowing at a record level'
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection
point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back
against Russia's full-scale invasion.
Although Trump had previously dismissed the effort as a waste of
U.S. taxpayer money, Graham told CBS' “Face the Nation” that “you'll
see weapons flowing at a record level.”
“One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play
Trump," he said. "And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks,
there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international investment who took
part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February,
dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow
and Washington.
“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more
effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” Dmitriev said
in a post on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic
efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”
Economic pressure
Although Trump proposed targeting Russia with new tariffs, he
expressed doubts about bipartisan legislation to punish the country
even further.
“I'm not sure we need it,” he said. “It could be very useful. We'll
have to see.”
The legislation increases sanctions and places 500% tariffs on
products imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas and other
exports. Trump on Monday proposed unilaterally implementing 100%
tariffs.
“I use trade for a lot of things,” he said. “But it’s great for
settling wars.”
Since Dec. 5, 2022, when the European Union banned Russian oil,
China has bought 47% of Russia’s crude oil exports, followed by
India at 38%. Turkey and the EU have each accounted for 6%,
according to the Centre for Research and Clean Air, a Finnish
nonprofit that tracks the energy industry.
Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow in China studies at the Council on
Foreign Relations, doubted that tariffs would change the course of
the war.
“Oil is fungible, and Russia has developed a nimble shadow fleet,"
he said. "So enforcement would be a challenge.’’
However, the tariffs could still have a dramatic effect, depending
on how they're implemented.
Adding a 100% tariff on China, on top of import taxes already in
place, would essentially halt trade between the United States and
China, the world's two largest economies.
In a joint statement, the co-sponsors of the sanctions package
working its way through Congress, Graham and Democratic Connecticut
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, praised Trump for having “made a powerful
move.” They also defended their legislation, noting, “The benefit of
our approach is that it blends congressional authorization of
tariffs and sanctions with flexibility for presidential
implementation, making it rock solid legally and politically.”
___
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, Geir Moulson in
Berlin, Paul Wiseman and David Klepper in Washington and Katie Marie
Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
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