President Donald Trump on July 14 announced the U.S. would impose "severe tariffs" on Russia unless Moscow agrees to a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days, but experts who spoke to the Kyiv Independent say the plan is deeply flawed.

During a press briefing, Leavitt stumbled when asked to account for the president’s paltry plan to impose tariffs on Russia. She’d previously claimed that U.S. sanctions “preclude any meaningful trade” between the two countries, as a means of explaining why Russia was exempt from the president’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs.

Former Ukraine aid critics now back Trump's strategy requiring European funding for weapons to Kyiv after the president pivoted his frustration from Zelenskyy to Putin.

As part of the plan, the U.S. was weighing the sale of Patriot air defense systems from its own military stockpiles, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said.