How Big Is Trump’s Turn Against Putin?
Trump announced he would sell weapons to Europe to give to Ukraine and threatened sanctions on Russia and its trade partners in 50 days. How big a deal is this change?
Trump is clearly pissed off at Vladimir Putin, as I wrote last week. And yesterday, meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Washington, Trump announced steps to help Ukraine and punish Russia. American weapons will again flow to Ukraine (though only after being bought and paid for by Europeans). And Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Russia and its trading partners in 50 days if no ceasefire had been reached.
Many have greeted these announcements as positive steps. And, indeed, they are far preferable than having Putin continue to play the American President, as he has for years. But I as I said on CNN and the BBC yesterday, it is far too early to know whether the change is real.
I will have more to say about all this in my weekly news roundup later this week. For now, I will leave you with clips of these interviews.
Interview on BBC World News.
Interview on CNN with Amanpour.
