Trump weighs secondary oil sanctions on Russia before 50-day deadline

US President Donald Trump may consider imposing secondary oil sanctions on Russia before the 50-day deadline he set for Moscow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine.

"We are looking at that whole situation. It could be that we will have to put secondary sanctions on them," Trump told reporters on July 25. When asked whether he would impose sanctions before the 50-day deadline, he said, "Maybe."

Trump's comments come after the Kremlin reportedly ruled out a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until after a draft settlement is reached, rejecting a call from Zelensky for the leaders to meet.

His comments also came several days after the EU announced a significant revamp of its oil sanctions, cutting the oil price cap and initiating an import ban on petroleum products made from Russian crude.

When a reporter asked Trump what it would take for Zelensky and Putin to sit down together, Trump said, "It's going to happen. But it should have happened three months ago."

Trump has threatened both tariffs and sanctions on Russia if it does not reach a peace deal. On July 14, he said, "If we don't have a deal in 50 days, we'll have tariffs and 100% secondary tariffs."

If Washington were to follow through on the threat of 100% secondary tariffs, it would be the biggest risk to Russian oil flows since the G7 embargoes in 2022, S&P Global Energy analysts said in a recent market briefing.

For instance, India's purchases of 1.7 million b/d of crude this year would be at risk because the country would have to weigh its discounted crude from Russia against its larger trade balance with the US, the briefing said.

"While a tail risk, in our view, markets still consider it a low-likelihood, high-impact outcome, as the dislocated crude would be challenged to find new markets capable of taking that kind of size," the briefing said.

Sanctions and tariffs are separate measures. Secondary sanctions target specific individuals and companies that do business with a sanctioned country, while secondary tariffs would charge a fee on US imports from countries that trade with a targeted country.