U.S. President Donald Trump has given Moscow a new ultimatum to end its war in Ukraine or face “severe tariffs” in the latest showdown to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into sheathing his sword against Ukraine.

Mr Trump, who has agreed to sell weapons to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) for supply to Ukraine, made the warning while meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Oval Room on Monday.

“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” said Mr Trump. “Tariffs at about 100 per cent, you’d call them secondary tariffs. You know what that means.”

The threat of direct tariffs against Russia alone has no weight, given that Russia has minimal trading relations with Washington. However, secondary tariffs that may be as high as 100 per cent on countries that do business and buy oil from Russia might cripple Moscow’s economy.

“I use trade for a lot of things,” Mr Trump said. “But it’s great for settling wars.”

Mr Trump appears to be growing frustrated with Mr Putin’s determination to continue the war despite overtures from the American leader seeking a ceasefire and peace deal to halt the war that began in 2022.