Trump warns Putin to end Ukraine war or face tariffs

Trump’s message to Putin: ‘Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump issued a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine or face heavy sanctions.

Trump posted a message intended for Putin on his social media page, Truth Social, saying, “Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States.”

He added, “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way — and the easy way is always better.”

Trump boasted that he would be able to end the three-year -ong war between Russia and Ukraine as soon as he took office, although his aides have admitted that an agreement could take months.

Trump has said that Putin would be in “big trouble” if he didn’t make a deal to end the war and that the Ukrainian president has already agreed to come to the table.

“[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky told me he wants to make a deal; I don’t know if Putin does … He might not. I think he should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal,” Trump said in the Oval Office on the first day of his presidency.

“He’s grinding it out,” the president continued. “Most people thought it would last about one week, and now you’re into three years. It is not making him look good.”

Although Trump said that a meeting with Putin was on the agenda, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no such plans have been made to date.

Zelensky has expressed hope that the Trump administration would help broker a deal to end the war.

At the Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelensky said, “Trump is a businessman. He knows how to apply pressure.”