Photo: US President Donald Trump (Getty Images) Author: Maria Kucheryavets
US President Donald Trump spoke to the media on board his Air Force One. Journalists asked him about the ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia, a third term, tariffs and Iran.
RBC-Ukraine has compiled the main statements made by Trump, as quoted by journalists.
Content
- On Putin and the Ceasefire Agreement
- On Zelensky and the Fossils Agreement
- On the third presidential term
- About Iran and the nuclear program
- About the TikTok Agreement
On Putin and the Ceasefire Agreement
The American leader said he and his team had “made progress” toward a ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
One reporter asked whether Trump would say his relationship with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had “reached its lowest point.”
To which Trump responded in the negative, adding that he did not think “Putin would go back on his word about a partial ceasefire.” He also told reporters that “deals are made with people whether you like them or not.”
Asked if there was a deadline for Russia to agree to the deal, Trump said there was a “psychological deadline” for Russia to agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine.
“This is a psychological deadline. If I think they are dragging their feet, I will not be happy about it,” Trump said.
According to the US President, Russia is “not dragging out the peace process” and the Russian dictator, in his words, “wants to make a deal.” At the same time, Trump said that he was “not happy” with Putin's words, who Putin has said “some things in the last few days about Zelensky not being trustworthy.”
But, Trump added, he thinks Putin “will be kind.” The White House chief said he would not want to impose additional tariffs on Russia. However, he would definitely impose them on Venezuela and all the countries that “have been deceiving the United States all this time.”
On Zelensky and the Fossils Agreement
Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was trying to “exit” the fossil fuel deal and warned that he would be in “big trouble” if he did so.
“He's trying to back out of the rare earths deal, and if he does, he's going to have problems, big, big problems,” Trump told reporters.
He also added that Zelensky wants Ukraine to be a member of NATO, but this will “never happen,” and the Ukrainian president, he says, “understands this.”
On the third presidential term
Journalists also asked Trump whether he was thinking about a third presidential term.
“I don't want to talk about my third term now. We have a lot of time. We have almost four years left… However, despite this, many people say: “You should run.” They like the way we work. The main thing is that they like it,” the American president explained.
Trump said he and his team had “the best 100 days in history, better than any president ever.”
“I was with some very important people today and they said they had never seen such rapid changes as they are seeing now,” he added.
About Iran and the nuclear program
The US President also made a new statement on Iran. Earlier, in an interview with NBC News, he threatened Tehran with “unprecedented bombing” if the country's leadership did not agree to a deal on the Iranian nuclear program.
Later, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he would decide on secondary tariffs depending on whether Tehran agrees to a deal.
“We'll probably give it a couple of weeks and if we don't see any progress, we'll introduce them. We're not introducing them now. But if you remember, I did this six years ago and it worked very well,” he said.
About the TikTok Agreement
The head of the White House expressed confidence that the deal to sell TikTok to an American buyer with the Chinese company ByteDance will be concluded before this Saturday.
As Reuters recalls, in January, Trump set April 5 as the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer – until then, the entry into force of the law banning TikTok in the United States was delayed.
“We have a lot of potential buyers, there is a lot of interest in TikTok. I would like to see TikTok stay alive,” Trump added.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump gave an interview to NBC in which he said he was “very angry” with Putin after he questioned Zelensky's legitimacy. He said such statements were evidence of “movement in the wrong direction.”
Trump also said that if Russia fails to reach a peace deal in Ukraine, the United States will impose secondary tariffs on all oil supplied by Russia.
The following publications were used in preparing this material: Fox News, Reuters, The Hill.
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