Did President Trump mean secondary sanctions or secondary tariffs against Russia? “So it’s economic sanction, not a sanction,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters gathered in the State Dining Room on Monday. He offered Venezuela as an example.
“He said to Venezuela. He said, If you do business and you buy Venezuelan oil, right, your country will pay a tariff, right? So it’s economic sanction, not a sanction,” said Lutnick. “You could say, I don’t want you to do it, but you know, also, make an economic penalty if I catch [you] doing it, then you’ll have to pay so why don’t you police yourself?”
In the case of Russia, Lutnick explained that Trump’s approach means any country doing business with Moscow would face U.S. tariffs.
“You can do tariffs, or you can do sanctions, those are both tools in his toolbox,” Lutnick clarified Trump’s announcement aimed at forcing Putin to end the war in Ukraine in the next 50 days.
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