US President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters at the White House that the deadline he had set earlier for reaching an agreement on Ukraine is approaching its end, but pointed out that “very serious negotiations“ are currently underway.
In response to the question of whether he was adhering to the previously set 10-12-day deadline for Russia, the US leader said: “Yes, we are almost there.” "But we're in very serious talks right now about getting out of Ukraine, getting this settled, getting this over with," he added.
Trump hopes to have a clear picture of how close the conflict in Ukraine is in a few weeks.
"I can't answer that. I'll say that in the next few weeks, maybe sooner. But we've made a lot of progress," he said.
The US president believes there are good prospects for ending the conflict in Ukraine and for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
"There's a high probability that there will be a meeting very soon," Trump said. "There's a high probability that it will happen," the US president said, answering a question about whether Putin and Zelensky have agreed to hold talks. "We haven't decided where the meeting will be, but we had very good conversations with President Putin today," he added, referring to the August 6 meeting between the Russian leader and his special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, in Moscow.
“And there is a very good chance that we will complete this round, complete this journey,“ Trump stressed, speaking about the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. “It's a long way. It's still a long way,“ the president added.
Trump did not mention possible sanctions or other consequences for Russia if agreements are not reached within the specified deadline, shifting the focus to the ongoing negotiation process.
The United States, however, would impose additional secondary sanctions on Russia's trading partners.
“You will see a lot more. "You're going to see a lot more secondary sanctions," he said, commenting on the prospect of Washington imposing new restrictions on Russia's trading partners.
The president confirmed that China was among the countries that could face additional import tariffs from the United States, similar to India. He then added that only a small number of countries could face similar decisions from Washington. The American leader did not explain how this connected to his own claims that there would be "a lot more secondary sanctions." "It could happen," Trump said. "I mean, I don't know, I can't say yet. We did it with India. We're probably doing it with a few others. One of them could be China“, the White House chief noted.
The United States intends to impose import tariffs of about 100% on microchips and semiconductors. This was announced by Trump during a speech at the White House dedicated to Apple's plans to invest $ 600 billion in the American economy over the next few years.
Trump emphasized that technology companies manufacturing equipment in the United States “will not have to pay“ tariffs. “In other words, we will impose approximately 100% tariffs on microchips and semiconductors. But if you build production in the United States, you won't have to pay," the head of state said.
The president said the United States could strike Iran again if Tehran tried to restore its nuclear capabilities.
“Well, we stopped the wars in the Middle East by preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons“, Trump said.“They can say they're going to start all over again, but that would be a very dangerous step for them because we're going to come back“, he said.
“As soon as they start, we're going to come back. And I think they understand that“, Trump summed up.