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President Trump is threatening sanctions and tariffs on Russia if its president, Vladimir Putin, doesn't reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. Now, threatening economic tariffs against a foreign country is nothing new. But the fact that he's calling out Putin by name is raising eyebrows, considering Trump's long and well-documented affinity for the Russian leader. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez reports on the relationship between Trump and Putin.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Almost seven years ago, meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, President Trump was asked about allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and if he believed his own intelligence agencies or Putin.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this - I don't see any reason why it would be.
ORDOÑEZ: It was an extraordinary moment that helped paint Trump's approach to dealing with Putin - let alone other autocratic leaders - which was also in stark contrast to his abrasive approach with allies. The fawning continued. He even called Putin a genius when Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. So it was quite a shift last week when Trump warned of big tariffs if Russia didn't make a deal soon. In a statement, he told Putin, quote, "we can do this the easy way or the hard way."
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TRUMP: I mean, he's grinding it out, but most people thought that war would've been over in about one week. And now you're into three years. So he can't be thrilled. It's not making him look very good.
ORDOÑEZ: Russian analyst Sam Charap, who is at RAND, says it's a sign of Trump's struggles to make progress.
SAM CHARAP: Trump does seem to have come to the view that Putin is resisting engaging on this issue.
ORDOÑEZ: Charap emphasized that no one knows what type of talks are happening behind closed doors, but Trump promised to resolve the crisis within 24 hours. Charap and other analysts, like Eric Green, who served in the Biden White House, see the moves as acknowledgment that any deal Trump tries to strike is going to be far more difficult and complicated than he might have initially believed.
ERIC GREEN: This is a positive sign that President Trump believes that it's important to exert pressure on Russia in order to resolve this war in a way that's favorable to U.S. interests.
ORDOÑEZ: But Green also doesn't think it'll be enough. Last year, the U.S. imported a little less than $3 billion worth of goods from Russia, and the U.S. has already heaped heavy sanctions on Russia's banking, defense and energy sectors, and that has done little to diminish Putin's efforts. Green points out that the Biden administration was reluctant to fully go after Russia's oil producers in order to protect global markets.
GREEN: I'm all in favor of ramping up the economic pressure to force more difficult choices for Russia and Russia's economy. But I don't think that alone will lead to Putin making major concessions.
ORDOÑEZ: One big reason is because Russia continues to make gains on the battlefield, even if it's at high cost.
ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR: The unfortunate reality is that Putin believes that they are winning.
ORDOÑEZ: That's Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow at the Center for New American Security. But she says, adding to that dynamic is that Trump also does not want to be seen as looking weak.
KENDALL-TAYLOR: It's definitely been the case that Trump has been very sympathetic towards Putin. I think you might even say admiring of the power that he wields. But I think it's also the case that when you have two strong men, two highly personalized leaders, that relations can be extremely volatile.
ORDOÑEZ: And if there is anything Trump does well, it's to inject some volatility into a relationship. Franco Ordoñez, NPR News.
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