President Trump on Thursday said he would like to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin “soon” to push for the end of the war in Ukraine.
“I really would like to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended,” he said in virtual remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We really should get that stopped. Likewise in the Middle East, I think we’ve made a lot of process in the Middle East and I think that’s going to come along pretty well.”
When asked by the panel at Davos if there would be a peace deal by this time next year, the president said, “you’re going to have to ask Russia. Ukraine is ready to make a deal.”
He has called for a ceasefire in Ukraine for months, urging both sides to negotiate.
Trump also said that he doesn’t think the war needs to end from an economic standpoint, but instead because of the ongoing casualties caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both sides have sustained heavy losses.
Trump on Wednesday threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions on Russia if there is no deal to stop the fighting in Ukraine “soon.” He warned that without a ceasefire in the region, he would “have no other choice” but to impose tariffs, taxes and sanctions on “anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”
The president told the panel that he hopes China can help end the war in Ukraine, saying the country “has a great deal of power over that situation.”
He repeated claims shared throughout the 2024 campaign that he doesn’t think the war would have started if he had been president.
“When I was out, bad things happened, bad things were said,” Trump said.
