Trump’s Putin gambit: How to hammer Moscow with sanctions that bite

Excerpt

President Trump has never been shy with words. Yet until now, he has tiptoed around Russian President Vladimir Putin with puzzling restraint. That ended with his latest salvo on Truth Social: a vow to unleash “large-scale banking sanctions, sanctions, and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and final settlement agreement on peace is reached.”

It is a seismic jolt to the Ukraine peace talks — the first time Trump has brandished the threat of American economic might to force Putin’s hand.

This is the right play. The test is whether Trump will swing the hammer with the precision it demands.

Peter Doran is an adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.