Trump Backs Off Sanctions on Russia, Potentially Alienating European Allies

President Trump appears to have abandoned a European push for new sanctions on Russia, opting instead to focus on doing business deals with the country. After a phone call with President Vladimir Putin, Trump indicated that Russia and Ukraine would have to find a solution to the war themselves, and that he was no longer committed to joining a European pressure campaign. This decision has left European leaders feeling frustrated and potentially alienated from their traditional ally.

Key Takeaways:

• The Trump administration has been working to negotiate a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, but Trump's recent phone call with Putin suggests that he is willing to walk away from the negotiations.
• Trump told European leaders that Russia and Ukraine would have to find a solution to the war themselves, just days after saying that only he and Putin had the power to broker a deal.
• Trump has backed away from his own threats to join a European pressure campaign that would include new sanctions on Russia, citing concerns that additional sanctions would hinder business opportunities.
• Several European officials have expressed frustration with Trump's decision, saying that they had been counting on the US to join them in piling additional financial pressure onto Russia.
• Trump's decision has created a deep fissure inside NATO, between the Americans and their traditional European allies, who say they are going ahead with sanctions anyway.
• The Trump administration has insisted that existing sanctions on Russia, imposed after the 2022 invasion, remain in place, and that Ukraine is still receiving weapons from the US and its allies.
• Trump has publicly mused about walking away from the negotiations, and has made clear that he is eager to pull the US out of the discussions and move on to doing business deals with Russia.
• Trump has implied that his call with Putin resulted in a breakthrough of sorts, but it quickly became clear that the Russian leader had made no concessions.

Statistics:

• 6 officials who were familiar with the discussion (including Trump's leaked call with Putin) spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
• 30 days - the duration of the cease-fire that Trump threatened to impose on Russia if it refused to join Ukraine in declaring an unconditional cease-fire.
• 24 hours - the timeline that Trump promised to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine, which he now claims was "a little bit sarcastic".
• 10 days - the duration of the trip to Kyiv by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, where they set a deadline for Putin to sign the cease-fire agreement.
• 2022 - the year in which sanctions on Russia were imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.
• 2 nearly back-to-back summits: the Group of 7 in Canada in mid-June and the NATO summit a week later in The Hague, where the disagreement between the Americans and the Europeans over support for Ukraine will likely come to a head.

Sources:

• The New York Times
• The White House
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• The European Union
• The British government
• The Russian government