‘Russia’s economy stinks’: Trump targets Kremlin, says if energy prices go down, Putin will stop killing people

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (August 5) targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin, after he again warned India that the US will raise the tariff on India in the next '24 hours over Russian oil import. As he pointed to Russia, Trump said that the drop in energy prices could make Putin halt the war in Ukraine.

While speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, the US president stressed that if energy goes down, Putin will stop killing people.

“If energy goes down enough, Putin is going to stop killing people,” he said. Further slamming Russia’s economy, Trump said, “If you get energy down, another $10 a barrel, he’s going to have no choice because his economy stinks.”

Trump further repeated that he would increase US tariffs on India soon and maybe in the next 24 hours over their import of Russian oil, and since “they’re fueling the war machine.”

“They have the highest tariff of anybody ... We settled on 25%, but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours because they’re buying Russian oil, they’re fueling the war machine, and if they going to do that, I’m not going to be happy,” he said.

EU could face 35% tariffs

Trump warned the European Union, while speaking to Squawk Box, saying that the EU could face 35 per cent tariffs if it fails to meet $600 billion investment promises under the US-EU deal.

“They brought down their tariffs. They paid $600bn, and because of that, I reduced their tariffs from thirty percent down to fifteen percent, and a couple of countries came, ‘How come the EU is paying less than us’, and I said, well, because they gave me $600bn,” he said.

“And that’s a gift, that’s not like, you know, a loan … they gave us $600bn that we can invest in anything we want,” Trump added.

Trump further stressed that the EU has been “ripping us” for so many years, and it's time that they pay up.