Trump: Putin's Comments Made Me 'Very Angry'

During an interview with NBC News Sunday (in which he also said he's not joking about a potential third presidential term), President Trump's tone toward his Russian counterpart took a decided turn. He's long appeared to be "cozying up" to Vladimir Putin, worrying many in Europe and elsewhere, the BBC reports. But in the Sunday interview, Trump said Putin recently made him "very angry, pissed off." Specifically, Trump was unhappy, he said, when "Putin started getting into [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right location." He added that if Putin's calls for new leadership in Ukraine were heeded, it would mean delaying a peace deal.

Along those lines, Trump threatened a 50% tariff on Russian oil exports if a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal is not reached within the next month, the Guardian reports. "If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia's fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia," he explained. "That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can't do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all … on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil." He said he expects to speak to Putin this week. (More President Trump stories.)