Ukrainians are tired, run down by the emotional toll of the invasion and the physical toll of sleepless nights due to air raid sirens, explosions and the screeching sounds of attack drones. “It was a long night,” is a common remark you will hear in Kyiv.
So, Donald Trump’s decision to give Russia 50 days to agree to a ceasefire or face “very severe tariffs… at about 100%” has not gone down well.
One of Ukraine’s most prominent politicians, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, asked “why such a delay?” while speaking on German television. Russian attacks had become “more intense”, he said, and more people could be killed in that 50-day period.
What I’m missing from the articles is putting the potential consequences of the threatened tariffs into context. In 2024, Russian imports into the USA were 3.27 billion USD, whereas the GDP of the Russian economy in 2024 was 2.17 trillion. Even if there is fakery in the reported GDP, exports to the USA are likely less than 1% of the Russian economy
The thretened tariffs arent on Russia, since as you point out there is little trade between USA and Russia it would be innefective in swaying the kremlin. These tariffs are instead being put on countries that trade with Russia like China, India, Brazil etc, with the hope that those countries will put pressure on Russia by proxy.
Ah, missed the line in the article about secondary tariffs. Thanks for pointing it out to me. A 100% tariff on China and India until they stop importing Russian oil would indeed be very disruptive