U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the United States will be furnishing weapons to Ukraine with the help of NATO while threatening Russia with harsh economic sanctions if a ceasefire deal is not signed in the next 50 days.
Addressing the media at the Oval Office during a reception with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump laid out the agreement for sending weapons to Ukraine, according to Xinhua news agency.
"We are going to be shipping them the weapons, and they're going to be paying," Trump declared, adding that the weapons would be of American origin. "We're going to be imposing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days," he stated, addressing Russia.
The ex-president further stated that these would comprise "secondary tariffs" worth about 100 percent, which was reported by various media outlets.
Subsequently, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made it clear that Trump was alluding to "economic sanction" steps when he spoke of "secondary tariffs," The Washington Times reported.
After the Oval Office meeting, Trump informed journalists that the deal with NATO allies had been completed and was already on board, reported The New York Times.
We will ship them lots of weapons of all types," he said. "And they will deliver those weapons directly to the location, to the location of the war, various locations of the war, and they will pay for 100 per cent of them.
Trump also announced that some Patriot air defense systems would be going to Ukraine in the near future. According to ABC News, the U.S. president explained that European countries who already have these systems will be handing them over to Ukraine and "they're going to start arriving very soon."
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