Fresh off his trade triumph at the EU, Donald Trump has now set his sights further east to Moscow. Thanks to his new agreement with the largest trading bloc in the West, Trump has already set Europe up to wean itself — slowly — from Russian energy imports. As Duane pointed out earlier, the EU has committed to purchasing $750 billion in American liquified natural gas over the next several years, which won’t entirely replace Russian imports but should put a big dent in Vladimir Putin’s income stream almost immediately.
After the most recent wave of attacks on Ukrainian civilian population centers, Trump expressed frustration with Putin and warned that he would accelerate the deadline for punitive economic measures. And after watching Trump score trade agreements with the EU and Japan, Putin may be running out of options:
Trump: “I’m disappointed in President Putin. I’m going to reduce that 50 days I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen” https://t.co/hHYLG3fBgs pic.twitter.com/KRRwLEMo4w
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 28, 2025
“I’m disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed at him, so we’re gonna have to look, and I’m gonna reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer,” Trump said, speaking to reporters at Turnberry in Scotland.
Trump issued the ultimatum to Putin earlier in July, warning that his potential economic penalties against Moscow and its trading partners would be devastating if the conflict wasn’t halted by early September.
“We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,” Trump added on Monday.
It’s important to remember that Russia only exports a small amount of goods and services to the US, so direct tariffs won’t have much impact. Trump threatened to hike tariffs on that small amount of trade to 100%, but that’s not much of a deterrent. Russia trades far more with the EU, China, India, and others in their region than the US.
However, Trump knows this as well, so he’s planning to go after those countries that actually do business with Putin:
Trump said earlier this month he would impose “very severe tariffs” if Putin didn’t reach a deal to end the war in 50 days. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later said Trump could choose to impose either tariffs or sanctions on countries that do business with Russia. “Those are both tools in his toolbox,” Lutnick said.
The US has largely ignored Russia’s trade with our trading partners, aside from some nominal sanctions on energy. If Trump gets serious about this, though, India risks losing access to American markets that, needless to say, are far more lucrative than Russia. The US would likely have to increase energy sales to India to make up any potential loss, just as Trump did with the EU in the trade agreement this weekend. Even China might have to wonder whether it makes sense for them to prop up Putin’s war with energy purchases if it means failing to reach a trade agreement with the US in the near term, given China’s recent economic slide.
The strategy on tariffs has never been just about trade. Trump is a true believer in tariffs as a way to rebalance trade, but also as leverage in foreign policy. It adds to the power the US can project along with a very expensive military, at a much lower cost. Unlike past administrations, who have balked at sanctions that amount to trade-war conditions, Trump has already established his credibility on imposing those conditions, and perhaps even recklessness in pursuing them. India and China have to reckon with that, just as the EU and Japan did.
Now Putin has to reckon with it too, along with the knowledge that Trump has done a better job of economically isolating Russia than Joe Biden ever did, or even tried. The EU agreement was the biggest piece Trump needed in place, and don’t be surprised if India’s next.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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