Reuters: Trump still hopes to develop an economic partnership with Russia

Photo: Irish Mirror

White House officials say Trump still hopes to develop an economic partnership with Russia. He sees sanctions as an escalation in tensions with Moscow that could derail hopes of a ceasefire in the three-year-old conflict, Reuters notes.

"He is always looking at different ways to apply pressure," a senior White House official said. "This is no different. He's always weighing his options."

U.S. officials have prepared new economic sanctions against Russia, including banking and energy measures. They say that sanctions package is ready to implement based on Trump's order.

One option supported by some Trump advisers would be for the president to embrace, or at least not obstruct, legislation introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal last month that would set a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil.

Some advisers believe the bill could be useful because it would allow consequential sanctions to go into effect while Trump could in essence tell Putin the sanctions decision was out of his hands, according to one U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter. That in turn could help Trump maintain a viable line of communication with Putin.

Trump entered office in January predicting he would be able to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. But in the months since, he has absorbed the grim reality that the conflict is more intractable than he originally believed and has blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for allowing it to happen.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump explained why he felt imposing sanctions could antagonize Putin.

"If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that," he said.

Asked whether Putin wanted to end the war, Trump said, "I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks," noting he was waiting on Russia to submit its latest peace proposal.

"We're going to find out whether or not he's tapping us along or not, and if he is, we'll respond a little bit differently," Trump added.

Trump has threatened sanctions before, only to back off. He talked about the possibility of sanctions back in January and again before his most recent call with Putin.

“It’s very clear there is something holding him back from actually putting more pressure on Putin,” said one European official granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. “He may want the reset with Russia most of all, more than peace. If he just wants to get the war ended so he can do these deals [with Putin], then he may be weighing the cost of poisoning their potential relationship.”

…Somewhere in America:

Photo: publics