It was only on Sunday that President Trump declared he's "very angry" at Russian President Putin, statements which featured the threat of secondary tariffs on Moscow, but now the US leader is already dialing back this criticism, Bloomberg observes.
Instead he's once again focused his ire on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, warning of "big problems" if he doesn't sign the controversial minerals agreement and tries to renegotiate.
"I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal. And if he does that, he’s got some problems. Big, big problems," Trump earlier told reporters aboard Air Force One. "We made a deal on rare earth and now he’s saying, ‘well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal.’"
"He wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that. So if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems," Trump said.
Zelensky has signaled that Ukraine is positive about the deal but has complained that its conditions are "constantly changing".
Trump has still kept up some pressure on Putin, however, saying Monday of the Russian leader, "I want to make sure that he follows through, and I think he will." He continued in Monday remarks from the Oval, "I don’t want to go secondary tariffs on his oil, but I think, you know, something I would do if I thought he wasn’t doing the job."
All of the weekend criticisms of Putin appeared to arise from the Russian president's comments late last week declaring that Zelensky's 'illegitimacy' could be fixed by a UN transition process guiding Ukraine to new elections. Only then would Moscow negotiate an end the war, Putin stipulated.
"He’s supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or don’t like him," Trump told reporters Sunday, referring to Putin. "So I wasn’t happy with that. But I think he’s going to be good."
But again, he reserved blunter criticism for US ally Zelensky: "I heard that they’re now saying, well, I’ll only do that deal if we get into NATO or something to that effect," Trump had said.
Bloomberg has concluded the following of this latest back-and-forth:
The result is a geopolitical whiplash on the eve of Trump’s global tariff announcement on April 2 and shows US impatience with the process of securing a temporary truce between Russia and Ukraine more than three years after Putin’s invasion of its neighbor.
Trump had vowed he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has found Russia to be a tough negotiator and able to wrest concessions from the US by exploiting Trump’s desire to get a deal done quickly. On Sunday, Trump told NBC he was “pissed off” at Putin.
Of course, this is also due to Russian forces rolling up several villages and towns on the battlefield in Ukraine's east and south just this week alone. Putin has less incentive for a hasty deal, and is in the driver's seat - but surely the White House knows this, which is perhaps why the pressure is ramping up on Zelensky once again.
As for the apparently ever-changing draft minerals deal, Ukraine and its supporters have continued to charge that it's tantamount to a big resource grab by Washington.
Ukraine received its latest version of a new draft of the text on Friday, its foreign ministry stated. CNN writes that "The new proposal for a natural resources agreement, of which CNN has obtained a copy, was put forward by the US Treasury Department and goes well beyond the initial draft, particularly on future US rights and reimbursement for past assistance."
Some independent geopolitical observes have said the deal effectively imposes 'indentured servitude' on Ukraine. "This 'deal' is pure extortion and robbery. It would bind Ukraine indefinitely. It would also discourage any investment in any natural deposits in Ukraine. There is no chance that any such deal will be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament," Moon of Alabama writes.
The source then questions, "one wonders then: Why does the Trump administration even bother?"
