President Donald Trump, as expected, announced plans to ship another batch of weapons to Ukraine and threatened to impose tariffs on Russia and its trade partners if Moscow and Washington fail to agree on a conflict settlement within 50 days.

This was the "little surprise" that the US president promised last week....

Highlights of Trump's statements, which he made at a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Weapons shipments

The US and NATO have reached an agreement that European countries will pay for the weapons that America will send to Ukraine.

"We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons and they’re going to be paying for them," Trump said at a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

According to the US president, the shipments will include Patriot air defense systems.

"We're going to have some come very soon, within days," he said.

One country has 17 Patriots getting ready to be shipped, the president said.

NATO role

He also said that it will fall on NATO to coordinate US arms deliveries to Ukraine. The US permanent representative to the alliance, Matthew Whitaker, will be helping with the matter.

The NATO secretary-general called it absolutely logical that European countries will pay for the weapons that the US will be sending to Ukraine. According to Rutte, the Europeans will first supply Kiev with their weapons and then buy new ones from the US. Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands and many other countries will participate in the arrangement, he said.

100% tariffs

The US administration also plans to impose tariffs of about 100% on Russia and its trading partners if Moscow and Washington fail to agree on a settlement in Ukraine within 50 days, Trump said.

He questioned the proposal by US senators to impose duties of 500%.

"The 500 is, you know, sort of meaningless after a while, because at a certain point it doesn’t matter" he said.

According to Trump, "100 is going to serve the same function."

Unhappy again

The US president reiterated that Washington is "very, very unhappy" with Russia. "I thought we would have had a deal two months ago," he said.

Trump said he believes the threat of sanctions will work and Moscow and Kiev will make the steps needed for a settlement.

The US president called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "tough guy," saying he was able to "fool" his predecessors at the White House.

"He didn’t fool me," Trump said.

Market reaction

The Russian stock market accelerated gains on Trump’s statements, according to Moscow Exchange data.

The exchange’s index had risen by 2.42% by 6:20 p.m. Moscow times, while the RTS index edged up by 1.78%.

Putin Message to Trump: Don’t Mess with the Russian Bear

Trump's new sanctions and new military support for Ukraine again. Here are 7 ways how Putin could answer/retaliate

Option #1: Bomb Ukraine back to the Stone Age 

🔸 So far, Russia has limited its strikes against Ukraine critical infrastructure (government buildings, railways, energy grids) for political reasons.

That can change. Western air defenses can’t stop Russian missiles.

Option #2: Take out Ukrainian regime leadership

🔸 Russia has the capability to eliminate Ukraine’s senior political and military officials, but has not done so for political reasons. 

Option #3: Reimpose naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline

🔸 Mining the adjacent waters would be enough to halt all grain shipments and other trade, thereby delivering a HUGE ECONOMIC BLOW to Ukraine.

Option #4: Strengthen military cooperation with North Korea & Iran

🔸 Russia can provide North Korea with submarine technology, ICBM expertise, fissile material, & space launch assistance.

🔸 Russia can provide Iran with modern air defenses, fighter jets, & satellite intel.

Option #5: Restrict exports of Russian titanium, palladium, uranium, and nickel to the US 

🔸 This will seriously hurt the supply chains for US aerospace, atomic energy, EV, and chip-making. Additional chaos amid Trump’s trade war

Option #6: Support China in its trade showdown with the US

🔸 Russia can help China replace US' LNG, agricultural products, and buy more Chinese electronics and machinery.

Option #7: Continue spearheading global de-dollarization drive

🔸 Along with its BRICS partners, Russia has been leading the charge to develop alternatives to US dollar and financial system. Trump’s tariffs have made these alternatives much more attractive.

This is just a snapshot of how Russia could punch back against the US. 

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