Trump to meet NATO Sec Gen today
In a statement, NATO said Rutte will be in Washington today and tomorrow and will also meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of Congress.
While the NATO did not give out details regarding its scheduled meeting, it comes on the heels of Trump's greenlighting of weapon supplies to Ukraine and his announcement of making a 'major statement on Russia' today, as Kyiv is overwhelmed in the face of Moscow's continuous military advance.
Senator Lindsey Graham, speaking at the media agency's 'Face The Nation' programme yesterday said that a major plan was in the making where the US will sell weapons to its European allies and Ukraine.
"The idea of America selling weapons to help Ukraine is very much in play," Graham said. "We've given Ukraine a lot. We give them the money, we give them military aid.
'We now have a minerals agreement with Ukraine that's worth trillions of dollars. So, I don't want to get ahead of the President, but stay tuned about seized assets. The Europeans want to limit the interest on the assets to go to Ukraine."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on July 11 that some of the American-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the US, he said.
"It's a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a (U.S.) factory and get it there," Rubio told reporters last week during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Trump is also facing calls from Republicans and Democrats, as well as European allies, to support legislation in the Senate that aims to cripple Russia's oil industry and hit Moscow with US sanctions for its ongoing war with Ukraine.
Its primary export sector along with weapons, the new legislation, in part, calls for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. This would have a massive impact on countries buying Russian energy supplies, specifically economic behemoths China and India, which alone account for roughly 70% of Russia's energy trade.
Graham said he and Blumenthal have support for "congressional sanctions with a sledgehammer" that will "go after" Russian President Vladimir Putin's economy and "all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine."
"This congressional package that we're looking at would give President Trump the ability to impose 500% tariffs on any country that helps Russia, and props up Putin's war machine," Graham said.
"He can dial it up or down. He can go to 0%, to 500%. He has maximum flexibility. But we're going after the people who keep Putin in business and additional sanctions on Russia itself. This is truly a sledgehammer available to President Trump to end this war." UNI ANV SSP
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