President Donald Trump rightly lit into the United Nations on Sept. 23, noting that instead of acting effectively to end wars, all it does is “write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up.”
That day, after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump came out with his strongest statement yet against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on social media: “After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia,” Trump began, “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
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Trump has not previously said it was possible for Ukraine to push Russia back to its preinvasion borders.
“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization], the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” Trump continued. “Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years, a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”
These are strong words from Trump. But he has uttered strong words before and then left them twisting in the wind.
After months of criticizing Ukraine’s approach to the conflict, Trump said in March he was “angry” with Putin and that the “bloodshed in Ukraine … was Russia’s fault.” But he did nothing to change Russia’s behavior. Then, during Memorial Day weekend, after Putin attacked civilians across Ukraine, Trump said the Russian leader had “gone absolutely crazy” and “was playing with fire!” But again, Trump did nothing. Then in July, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at which he complained, “We got a lot of bulls*** thrown at us by Putin,” whose posturing was “meaningless.” But Trump did, again, nothing.
If we keep letting Putin do what he wants with impunity, we can hardly expect that he’ll do what we want. Indignant outbursts and lengthy social media posts without follow-through are signals of weakness, not strength. Putin is a tyrant who responds to action, not words. Trump must meaningfully change policy, and his latest comments suggest he knows it can be done. “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble,” Trump wrote on Sept. 23. He could make that trouble much worse by working with Congress to implement new sanctions designed to cripple Russia’s war machine.
The Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 would impose a 500% tariff on imports from any nation that buys Russian energy products. This includes China, India, Brazil, Turkey, and some European Union countries. Russia sells more than $200 billion worth of oil and gas every year, and without that revenue, its ability to export death to Ukraine would be much reduced.
Such an action by the United States would force hard choices in foreign capitals. Turkey blinked under similar circumstances in Trump’s first term, and Brazil and India would probably follow suit. China would be forced to decide which economic relationship is more important: subsidizing Putin’s lost cause in Ukraine or accessing America’s prosperous consumers. It shouldn’t be a tough call.
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Whether or not Trump truly believes Ukraine can restore its borders is less important than that he said it. His statement is a rhetorical shift toward the reality that if the war is to end, America must take decisive action against Russia. Putin understands no other language.
By passing the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, Trump can put the squeeze on the energy revenues propping up Moscow’s aggression, turning rhetoric into reality and forcing an end to the war. Action, not outrage, is the only language Putin understands.