US President Donald Trump suggested that imposing 200 percent import tariffs on Ukraine and Russia could theoretically compel both nations to conclude a peace settlement, but expressed skepticism that the measure would prove effective due to low bilateral trade volumes.
Speaking during a campaign rally in Florida on Friday, Oct. 23, Trump asserted that his administration had previously halted international conflicts by threatening punitive commercial duties, before questioning whether trade leverage could alter the trajectory of the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
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“We ended five wars thanks to tariffs. I said, ‘If you continue to fight, we’re going to put a 200 percent tariff on you,’ and they stopped,” Trump told supporters.
“We should probably immediately do it with Ukraine and Russia. Never thought of it. But we don’t buy enough to do it to them, so it doesn’t work.”
Disputed economic leverage and energy trade
Trump’s statements arrive amid ongoing debate over Washington’s economic tools to influence Moscow and Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated that the US president possesses ample statutory leverage to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, pointing to congressional sanctions measures awaiting presidential implementation.
“Trump could very easily bring Putin to the negotiating table, because he has the means to do so. The way he speaks about me – President Trump should speak about Putin in the same way,” Zelensky said in an interview on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
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Zelensky highlighted that bipartisan sanctions approved by the US Congress remain at the White House’s disposal, while expressing frustration over the administration’s reluctance to enact mandatory statutory penalties.
“Sanctions are sitting on his desk. He didn’t vote for them – Congress voted for strong sanctions. He has the power to act,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian head of state also disputed arguments that domestic US fuel benchmarks depend on Russian energy exports.
While Trump has linked consumer fuel inflation to Ukrainian drone interdictions against Russian refineries and justified a bilateral commercial arrangement to facilitate Russian diesel sales, Zelensky maintained that US domestic prices are decoupled from Russian export volumes.
“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that diesel prices do not depend on the volumes Russia sells,” Zelensky said, noting that American private companies actively export domestic energy resources without federal export prohibitions.
Sanctions waivers
Trump’s tariff remarks in Florida follow his administration’s recent decision to suspend statutory sanctions and trade duties codified under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.
On Oct. 16, Trump signed an executive order invoking Section 115 of the Graham Act to waive mandatory 500 percent tariffs on Russian imports and 100 percent secondary duties targeting global buyers of Russian hydrocarbons, just 48 hours before the measures were scheduled to take statutory effect.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the suspension as a 60-day pause to analyze the broader economic fallout of tariffs on both the US and international economies, citing third-party partner dependencies such as India’s reliance on Russian crude.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers similarly asserted that immediate enforcement of the penalties would complicate ongoing diplomatic efforts to broker an armistice.
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