In the Oval Office with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/a> on Monday, July 14, Trump announced more U.S. aid to Ukraine and a 100% tariff to hit Russia\u2019s oil customers like China by early September.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I use trade for a lot of things … it\u2019s good for settling wars,” Trump said. Trump cited the example of how he employed trade threats to simmer down India and Pakistan in May. \u00a0<\/p>\n TRUMP’S BOLD PIVOT ON UKRAINE SENDS MAJOR SIGNAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n However, as he said Monday, “The only one we haven\u2019t been able to get to yet is Russia.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ukrainian servicemen of the 21st Separate Mechanized Brigade fire a Leopard 2A6 tank during a military exercise, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near a front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 12, 2024. (REUTERS\/Valentyn Ogirenko\/ File Photo)<\/p>\n So, Trump has turned up the heat. The 100% tariffs<\/a> would hit the $240 billion Russia-China trade and reverberate to India, Brazil and others. This tariff appears to be distinct from the potential 500% secondary sanctions in the Senate bill co-sponsored by Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> and Connecticut Democrat\u00a0Sen. Richard Blumenthal, which Trump views as a back-up plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n The second component of Trump\u2019s new strategy is to deprive Putin of gains from the mass air barrages of drones and missiles attacking Ukraine. Significantly, Trump has now put his personal backing behind aid to Ukraine<\/a> in the form of a surge of air defenses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n SEN LINDSEY GRAHAM: RUSSIA SANCTIONS BILL AIMS TO CHANGE PUTIN’S CALCULUS, PROTECT WORLD ORDER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Trump and Rutte discussed no less than 17 Patriot air defense batteries. That\u2019s astonishing, considering that Ukraine has six batteries in operation now, including three from the U.S. and others sent from Germany, Poland and Romania. Patriot is the gold standard for air defense. It\u2019s a full commitment by Trump and NATO<\/a> to stopping Putin\u2019s brutal war.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump is also brandishing Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles like a stiletto in a street fight. TLAMs could swiftly decimate Russia\u2019s air force. Trump says he won\u2019t give Ukraine TLAMs<\/a> or other long-range missiles that could hit targets in Russia just now, but then, we all remember the head-fake prior to the B-2 strike on Iran, don\u2019t we?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Russia has taken 100,000 casualties since January for paltry ground gains. With Trump empowering NATO, Putin is targeting Ukraine\u2019s power grid and infrastructure alongside indiscriminate terror attacks. The salvos consist mainly of Iranian Shahed drones, some of which are now manufactured in Russia, along with decoys. Each barrage includes a handful of weapons that are hard to intercept: Iskander ballistic missiles, KH-101 cruise missiles and even old Soviet air defense missiles converted for ground attack. The bad news is that Russia has literally thousands of older missile types.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN: IF TRUMP WANTS A UKRAINE DEAL, HE SHOULD REREAD HIS OWN BOOK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s air defenders are top notch, due to considerable assistance from the U.S, NATO partners and others. Sophisticated monitoring and tracking have enabled Ukraine to shoot down most of Putin\u2019s air weapons, but this spring\u2019s saturation attacks have been challenging.\u00a0<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Air defense is a group effort. The joint U.S.-Norwegian NASAMS use the converted AIM-120 fighter plane air-to-air missile and boast a 94% success rate. \u00a0<\/p>\n Another favorite is the “Frankenstein SAM” which combines old Soviet-style Buk launchers rewired by clever Americans to fire U.S. missiles like the Sea Sparrow. Australia has deployed its sophisticated E-7 Wedgetail radar surveillance plane to monitor drone and missile trajectories for intercept. If worse comes to worst, a few NATO partner F-35s could scour the skies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n TRUMP HAS HIS OWN DEADLINE, ‘NO ALLEGIANCE TO ANYBODY’ IN UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) in the Oval Office at the White House on July 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Done right, the air defenses and TLAM threats will diminish the damage to Ukraine and secure Europe against Russia\u2019s ongoing weapons build-up, too. There is nothing the NATO allies want more than to protect their strategic ports, railways and capitals from any threat of Russian drones and missiles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Ukraine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ukraine-5.png\")
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