CNN
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Two weeks after President Donald Trump sets a 14-day timeline to determine the willingness of his Russian counterparts to end the conflict in Ukraine, he says he is coming to believe Vladimir Putin doesn’t care about the human costs of his war.
“He’s starting to think he won’t,” Trump said when interviewers asked if he intended to lose thousands of soldiers in Ukraine each week.
The candid entrance on the New York Post Podcast recorded this week highlighted the difficulties Trump continues to face with the complex international trade of brokers, including issues that make it easy to solve the issues he once said.
He also appears to be unsure about firing a nuclear deal with Iran, despite saying he had said a few days ago that he believed the talks were going in the right direction. And negotiations to end the war in Gaza have been stuck, deepening Trump’s upset with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump achieved success this week by carrying out an agreement with China to roll back some of the punitive measures each side has enacted amid the worsening trade war, but it was not clear how long the new framework will be held. The transaction, which took place in Switzerland on similar terms last month, quickly fell apart.
And so far, after suspending his mutual tariffs, there has been only one trade agreement to emerge from the 90-day negotiation period set up with US partners this spring. The deadline is scheduled for early July.
Even Trump’s overture to his former Penpal Kim Jong Un seemed to have fallen to a flat. According to Seoul-based NK News, attempts to deliver letters from Trump to North Korean dictators by diplomats based at the UN headquarters in Trump had given up on immediate hopes of rekindling the first term of friendship that Trump enjoyed with Strongman. CNN contacted the White House about the letter.
However, the administration has not given up on any of the difficult issues that remain unresolved. Despite suggesting that he might leave the Russian-Ukraine war for good, Trump has not completely abandoned his efforts. He is in an intensive summitry that could focus on wars, including seven meetings in Canada next week and the NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month.
His team, led by envoy Steve Witkov, is planning another round of Iranian talks in the coming days, even loudly opposed to dealing with Iranian Hawks and Israeli officials.
Trade talks will continue as the July 9 deadline approaches.
“You’ll see the deal after the deal that comes next week, and then the week and the week after the week,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Wednesday. “There’s a lot in Hopper. We just want to make sure they’re the best deal we can do. Don’t hurry.”
Still, Trump’s own comments this week provided harsh insight into his frustration and frustration as he attempts to negotiate deals around the world.
“We made progress, then suddenly something that should not be bombed, and that’s the end of progress,” he spoke of the conflict in Ukraine, explaining the two-stage, one-stage reality of crushing efforts to mediate a ceasefire.
Two weeks ago, Wednesday, it was vowed that Trump had the answer to Putin’s willingness to end the war in two weeks.
Since then, Trump has not decided to apply new sanctions to Moscow, despite Europe’s republican allies on Capitol Hill seeking strict measures.
“I’ll use it if necessary,” he told reporters last Friday in the Air Force. He said the senator who many signed the bill to increase sanctions against Russia is leaving him up to decide. However, he said he had not discussed the issue with them.
“I’m not telling them about it,” he said. “They have a bill. It’s up to me. That’s my option.”
At the same time, Trump has not taken any steps to support military aid to Ukraine. Ukraine is taking on some of the biggest drone attacks of the war this week. This is likely to be heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the upcoming summit, which Zelensky will be attending.
Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses told lawmakers Tuesday there was a “this budget cut” in military aid to Kiev.
“This administration has a very different view of the conflict. We believe that the negotiated peaceful settlement is the greatest interest of both the parties with all competing interests around the world and the interests of our nation,” Hegses said in Parliamentary testimony.
Trump has spoken to Putin once since he offered a two-week deadline two weeks ago. However, in his own words, the conversation was not sufficient to encourage immediate peace.
“We had a good conversation,” Trump said. “But so far, it’s nothing.”
So there’s nothing yet coming from his efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“I’m more and more confident about it. They seem to be late. I think that’s a shame, but I’m not more confident than I did a few months ago,” Trump said in an interview with the podcast. “Something happened to them, but I’m not very sure there’s a deal going on,” he continued, saying it was his “instinct” and telling him that the deal is moving further from reach.
The issue is Iran’s claim, which can continue to enrich uranium. Trump said he must give up to see some sanctions lifted as part of the deal.
This is roughly the same issue as prolonging nuclear talks with Iran under Barack Obama. Trump withdrew from the agreement during his first term, but now he finds himself overcame many of the same points of attachment.
US officials are expected to see talks about a new round with Iran in the coming days. The US is waiting for an official response to Tehran’s latest proposal.
The two-month deadline for Trump to reach the deal that he set up a letter to Iranian leaders in April is expected to expire this week. In an interview with the podcast, Trump said Iran was a war and he would regret that Iran did not make a deal.
“It would be better to do it without war, without people dying,” he said. “Yes, it’s very good to do that, but I don’t think they see the same level of enthusiasm to make a deal.”