(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he was “very angry” at Vladimir Putin and threatened “secondary tariffs” on buyers of his country’s oil if the Russian leader refuses a ceasefire with Ukraine.
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In comments reported by NBC News, Trump said he was “pissed off” at Putin for casting doubt on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s legitimacy as a negotiating partner, and threatened curbs on “all oil coming out of Russia.” He later added that he didn’t think the Russian president would “go back on his word.”
While the US president appeared to temper his remarks, the threats mark a significant change of tone for Washington and suggest a possible souring in relations with his Russian counterpart over the pace of ceasefire talks. Before taking office, Trump said he could resolve the war quickly, but the conflict rages on more than two months later.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to put secondary tariffs on Russia,” Trump later clarified in comments to reporters on Air Force One, adding he was “disappointed” with some of Putin’s recent comments on Zelenskiy. “He’s supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or don’t like him. So I wasn’t happy with that. But I think he’s going to be good.”
Trump’s frustration was sparked by comments Putin made on Friday that implicitly challenged Zelenskiy’s legitimacy by proposing the United Nations should take over Ukraine with a temporary government overseen by the US and possibly even some European countries.
The Kremlin on Monday said that Putin remained open to contacts with Trump.
“If necessary, their conversation will be organized very quickly,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to the state-run Tass news agency, though he said no call had been scheduled yet. Peskov also said that Russia was continuing to work with the US to build bilateral relations, according to Tass.
Trump maintained pressure on Zelenskiy to agree to a deal to give the US access to Ukraine’s resources.
“He’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal and if he does that he’s got some problems — big, big problems,” Trump said. “If he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”
Russia is one of the world’s three largest oil producers, meaning any attempt to punish purchases of Russian supplies could have a far-reaching effect on the oil market, and any disruptions could add to inflationary pressures.
Nevertheless, with a week of tariffs and other measures to evaluate — and the uncertainty that Russian supplies really will be hit with levies, oil barely moved.
Should the US press ahead, India and China, which have become the key buyers of discounted Russian barrels since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, would face particular pressure. Russian crude exports hit a five-month high in March and US sanctions on Russia’s oil tanker fleet are showing signs of faltering.
Trump also said he’s considering punishing Tehran with unspecified “secondary tariffs” and raised the threat of bombing Iran until it signs a deal that renounces nuclear weapons.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” NBC cited Trump as saying.
Iran told Trump in response to his overture that it won’t hold talks with his administration, though indirect communications with the US remain a possibility, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday.
Trump’s threats “should see prices reacting more strongly considering the volumes at risk,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG. “But so far there are no supply disruptions, just threats, and in the past it has taken real disruptions for prices to move higher on a sustained basis.”
Oil prices edged higher at the open on Monday and gold hit a new record — but both cooled as Trump moderated his threats. In Asian morning trade, Brent’s (BZ=F) June contract slipped toward $72 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $69.
“If Trump is serious about punishing Russian oil business, then he could go ahead and sanction ships, insurers and buyers,” said Gao Jian, an analyst with Qisheng Futures Co. “But Russia’s oil trade is big in scale, he has to assess and weigh pros and cons.”
The US said last week that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to a Black Sea truce as the next stage in Trump’s efforts to end the war, following their acceptance of a 30-day halt to strikes on energy infrastructure.
While Ukraine said it would immediately observe the ceasefire, the Kremlin demanded the removal of sanctions on Russian Agricultural Bank, or RSHB, and other financial institutions involved in foreign trade in food and fertilizers.
Trump last week appeared to invent a new economic statecraft tactic by threatening secondary tariffs on countries that buy oil from Venezuela to choke off its oil trade with other nations.
The threat, confirmed in an executive order by Trump, said countries could face 25% tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, which is already under heavy US sanctions. The move was meant to pressure Venezuela for the “tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals” that Trump said Venezuela has sent to the US.
—With assistance from Alaric Nightingale and Sarah Chen.
(Updates with Kremlin comment in the sixth and seventh paragraphs.)
