Donald Trump has warned that the US could deploy sweeping new tariff powers against Russia if necessary, increasing pressure on Moscow even as the US president insists that his efforts to end the war in Ukraine are progressing.
Addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, Trump said Washington remained focused on ending the conflict, which he described as “disastrous”.
“We continue to seek an end to the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine, which is killing thousands and thousands of people every month,” the US president said.
Trump was referring to legislation originally championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Richard Blumenthal, which gives the president expanded powers to impose tariffs and sanctions on Russia and countries that continue to buy its energy.
The US House of Representatives approved the legislation by 262 votes to 159 on September 16, after the Senate passed it in August. Trump signed the sweeping sanctions package into law on September 18, opening the way for Washington to impose additional economic measures.
“Last week, in honour of Senator Lindsey Graham, I signed a powerful new law passed by Congress providing me with enormous new tariff authorities — and if necessary, I will have to use them,” Trump said.
The legislation targets Russian energy and defence interests, including sanction-evasive oil tankers, and allows tariffs of up to 100 per cent on goods from certain countries that continue to purchase Russian oil or gas.
Trump’s remarks leave open the prospect of using the new powers not only against Russia but against countries that continue to facilitate its energy revenues.
The Kremlin has argued that additional US sanctions could make negotiations over Ukraine more difficult, illustrating the tension between Washington’s economic pressure campaign and Trump’s parallel effort to secure an end to the conflict.
“It’s time to stop the killing,” Trump added.
At the UN, Trump also said he believed the war could end considerably sooner than many observers expect, saying the US was working closely with both Kyiv and Moscow.
“We will get that one done. It’s going to happen, I think, more quickly than people understand. They’ve had it,” he said.
Trump separately delivered a direct message to Russian President Vladimir Putin when asked by a journalist what he wanted to tell the Kremlin leader.
“Settle the war,” Trump replied.
The comments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was preparing to meet Trump in New York. Zelensky has said he wants to discuss the possibility of an energy and maritime ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump and Zelensky were expected to meet on the evening of September 22, with a possible energy ceasefire among the issues under discussion.
The diplomatic push comes alongside a significant expansion in Washington’s economic leverage over Moscow and its trading partners. The sanctions legislation had been presented in Congress as a means of increasing the cost of Russia’s war effort, while giving Trump substantial discretion over the use of tariffs.
For financial markets and companies exposed to Russian energy flows, the combination of sanctions, secondary tariffs and renewed diplomatic pressure creates a potentially significant new variable.
Trump’s message at the UN was therefore twofold: Washington is seeking negotiations to end the war, but the US president has also made clear that the economic pressure available to him could be expanded if diplomacy fails to deliver.
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