On September 7, US President Donald Trump said he was ready to move to a "phase two" in sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
This is considered the clearest demonstration of the possibility of strengthening sanctions against Moscow or countries buying oil from Russia, although he did not provide details on the scope of the plan.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Mr. Trump briefly replied Yes, I am ready when asked about preparing to deploy the next phase. However, he did not specify the content and emphasized that so far, the previous steps have caused great losses for Russia.
He cited the imposition of sanctions on exports from India to the US last month, an indirect move that caused hundreds of billions of dollars in losses to Russia, as India is a major customer in Moscow's energy sector.
Since taking office, Mr. Trump has repeatedly affirmed that he will quickly end the conflict in Ukraine, but so far he has not achieved the desired results. He expressed his disappointment that the mediation process did not go as expected.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and the European Union could apply secondary tariffs to countries that continue to buy Russian oil. According to him, this measure will push the Russian economy to the brink of collapse and force Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit at the negotiating table. Meanwhile, China remains one of the major customers of Russian energy, posing a challenge to any sanctions efforts.
Trump's new statements show a tougher stance, but the White House has yet to make an official response to the concrete steps. However, these signals are raising concerns about the possibility of escalating tensions between Washington, Moscow and Russia's major trading partners.
