The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
Yesterday Donald Trump posted 170 words on Truth Social in which he called for an end to Russia’s “ridiculous” war.
The statement amounts to an economic threat of “Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions”, and marks the US president’s clearest attempt yet to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. It might not cut it.
Russia is already the most sanctioned country in the world, and still its economy grew in 2023 and 2024.
Putin may not fear much from tariffs either. Trade between the US and Russia in the first 11 months of last year was $3.4 billion, while annual trade between the US and Europe is in the trillions of dollars.
All the same, Russia’s economy is weaker than it looks and the country’s deputy foreign minister yesterday acknowledged a “small window of opportunity to do a deal with Trump”.
Trump’s statement – though limited in detail and not mentioning Ukraine once – cracks open that window.
