Trump Refocuses on Tariffs and Trade Deals With Russia and Ukraine

ImageThe carrot and stick approach Investors finally seem to be getting the message: Don’t underestimate President Trump’s tariffs threat.The S&P 500 fell on Monday to its lowest level since his inauguration on jitters that a new round of the Trump trade war would kick in next week.The slump comes even as Trump offered a carrot to corporate America on Monday, insisting that as part of his efforts to help end the Russia-Ukraine war, his administration is already working on deals to gain access to those nations’ valuable natural resources.Trump said that tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports “are going forward on time, on schedule,” and would be imposed March 4 (should the countries fail to win themselves another reprieve).

“We’ve been taken advantage of,” he reiterated on Monday.Then tariffs on imported aluminum and steel are set to begin a week later, with reciprocal levies starting in early April.An accord on getting a cut of Ukraine’s minerals seems close, but hardly certain.One sticking point: The White House appears unwilling to meet demands by Kyiv and its European allies for American security guarantees.But Kyiv may have won a major concession.

The latest deal terms, reviewed by The Times, no longer contained a demand that Ukraine pay as much as $500 billion into a U.S.-controlled fund derived from the future sale of Ukraine’s natural resources, including oil, natural gas and minerals.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....