On Wednesday, President Trump announced that additional sanctions would be placed on Russia, “as soon as they very much deserve it.” Is this Trumps attempt to de-escalate tensions with Russia?
President Trump made the comments at a joint press conference with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister, which escalated the confusion over whether the administration would rebuke Moscow for its supposed role in the chemical attack launched on Syria.
“There has been nobody tougher on Russia than Donald Trump,”
“Ideally we want to get along with Russia. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t,” Trump had said to the reporters in the course of a meeting with leaders of the Baltic state.
“Getting along with Russia would be a good thing, not a bad thing — and just about everybody agrees to that, except very stupid people,” he added.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, claimed on Sunday that further sanctions against Russia were immanent. However, Larry Kudlow, White House economic adviser, said that Nikki Haley had either gotten confused about the policy or had “gotten ahead of the curve”
Haley, on the other hand, gave a quick response to the statement saying, “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”
Larry Kudlow, later apologized for exacerbating the miscommunication. The incident, however, had led to a speculation that the whole administration was not on the same page concerning the policies towards Russia.
