DAVOS, Switzerland — Donald Trump directly blamed Vladimir Putin for the fact the war in Ukraine is still raging — a day after threatening massive tariffs and sanctions on Russian products if he fails to make a deal to end the conflict.
Speaking in a video address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, the United States president said he would bring down the cost of oil, because “if the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” adding: “It’s time to end it.”
Asked whether he believed the war in Ukraine would end by the time the WEF returned to Davos in a year, Trump said: “Well you’re gonna have to ask Russia. Ukraine is ready to make a deal.”
The comments explicitly blame the ongoing war on Moscow, as Russian energy revenues are funding its war chest, and are the latest indication of Trump’s evolving perspective on the conflict and warming of relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It comes after Trump on Tuesday told reporters that “Zelenskyy told me he wants to make a deal.” But, he added in the Oval Office on the first day of his second presidency, “I don’t know if Putin does … He might not. I think he should make a deal. I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal,” a reference to the country’s failing economy and inflation.
Zelenskyy, for his part, has repeatedly reached out to the Trump administration to make the case that it is Moscow, not Kyiv, which stands in the way of a peace deal — a message Trump has clearly heard.
In his own address at Davos on Tuesday, Zelenskyy also sought to appeal to Trump by echoing some of his talking points about the need for Europe to “step up” and be responsible for its own security, and backed the 5 percent NATO spending target.
Trump also said he would guarantee security of supply of liquefied natural gas to Europe. “Yes I would. I would make sure that you get it. If we make a deal, we make a deal. You’ll get it.”
The U.S. is already the European Union’s second-largest gas partner and largest LNG supplier, after Russia cut off supplies following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But Trump has little power to boost exports in the short term, and potential trade friction between the U.S. and EU could affect gas supplies.
Trump on Thursday also said he would “ask all our [NATO] nations to increase defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product, which is what it should have been years ago.” Currently, the NATO spending target is 2 percent, with 24 out of 32 meeting that.
Still, while Trump has previously slammed NATO members for their lackluster defense spending and other perceived ills, on Thursday in his WEF address he seemed to strike a conciliatory tone, saying: “I love Europe, I love the countries of Europe.”
Trump also said he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of Russia’s key allies, and asked him to pressure Putin to end the war.
“Hopefully China can help us stop the war with in particular Russia … They have a great deal of power over that situation and we’ll work with them. And I mentioned that with during our phone conversation with President Xi and hopefully we could work together and get that stopped.”
Trump also took a dig at Putin’s 2024 presidential election result, which he “won” with an improbably 88 percent of support, calling it “frankly ridiculous.”
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to clarify that most NATO members hit the 2 percent of GDP spending target.