President Donald Trump put Russian President Vladimir Putin on notice, and issued some harsh words to China and their ongoing trade negotiations during his 19th week in office.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former Russian president, responded in kind and issued his own words of caution to the U.S.
“Regarding Trump’s words about Putin ‘playing with fire’ and ‘really bad things’ happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!” Medvedev wrote.
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Trump’s remarks come as Russia has ramped up its attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, and as the U.S. has sought to distance itself from the conflict between the two countries. Meanwhile, Trump said on Wednesday that time is limited for Putin to get serious about coming to the negotiating table and engage in peace talks. Otherwise, the U.S. might adopt a different approach, he said.
“We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently, but it will take about a week and a half to two weeks,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Here’s what also happened this week:
Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs
Trump accused China of violating an initial trade agreement that Washington and Beijing were hashing out in May. Following those negotiations, both countries agreed that the U.S. would cut down its tariffs against Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, and China would reduce its tariffs against U.S. imports from 125% to 10%.
But Trump said that China hasn’t followed the terms of the agreement, without disclosing specifics.
“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” Trump said in a social media post Friday. “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said after Trump’s post in an interview with CNBC that China had failed to remove its non-tariff barriers, as outlined in the deal.
“The United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance which is completely unacceptable and has to be addressed,” Greer said on Friday.
Meanwhile, China pressed the U.S. to reverse course and urged the U.S. to address its own mistakes.
“China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,” Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a Friday statement.
Golden Dome access for Canada?
Canada also could receive protection from Trump’s so-called Golden Dome — if it becomes part of the U.S. Trump has long pushed for Canada to become the 51st state, along with expressing interest in acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal.
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“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” Trump said in a Tuesday social media post.
Trump has long touted setting up a Golden Dome, a defense shield initiative for the U.S. akin to the one Israel has protecting itself.
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