NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned world leaders trading with Moscow on Monday that they should consider ringing Russian President Vladimir Putin and push him toward peace in Ukraine before President Trump’s secondary tariffs kick in.
“Today, if you are in Beijing or in Delhi, or you’re in Brazil, and you know that this is coming to you — you might want to call Vladimir and say, ‘Hey, friend, we are still buying stuff from you, but you have got to get serious when it comes to these negotiations on the cease-fire or a peace deal,” Rutte said in an interview with Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier.
“There will be also an effect directly on Russia, of course, but this is really significant, and it is just – it is smartly designed by the president,” the NATO chief said of Trump’s tariff threat.
Trump, during a White House meeting with Rutte, pledged to impose ”severe tariffs” on nations doing business with Russia if the Kremlin doesn’t agree to halt its bloody war against Ukraine within the next 50 days.
“They’ll be at 100%, and that is the way it is. It could not be more simple … I hope we don’t have to do it,” the president said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later clarified that Trump was referring to secondary sanctions on Russia’s trading partners, which punish individuals or entities who do business with a country.
The Russian economy has already been strained by some direct US sanctions.
“If I was in the Kremlin today, I would not be too happy, because this is a clear signal that President Trump is here — he wants peace. He hates the fact that so many people lose their lives in Ukraine,” Rutte said.
Trump also vowed Monday to provide “billions of dollars” worth of weapons to Ukraine — paid for and distributed by NATO allies.
“I think that’s fair,” Rutte said of Trump’s demand that NATO pay for the weapons.
The NATO secretary general added that the alliance is “good at logistics” and plans to deliver the weapons to Kyiv in “packages which are really useful and for them to be maximum effective.”
Rutte noted that Trump informed him last week that he wanted to step up for Ukraine.
“Last Thursday, I got a call from President Trump. He said, ‘Hey, Mark, we really want to ramp up the support for Ukraine when it comes to weapons,’” Rutte said. “And then this morning, I was in the White House preparing for the meeting with him, and he said, when it comes to the sanctions, clearly we have to take the next step now.”
“He was really, I think, irritated by his last phone call with Putin, who is not serious, it seems, about getting into peace deals.”
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