A recent report has highlighted President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to stop the war in Ukraine by levying wide-ranging sanctions against Russia.
The report comes from Bloomberg and cites people familiar with the matter, who shared that Trump’s goal is to pressure Russia into leaving Ukraine.
The news of Trump’s plan comes almost a week after the Biden Administration imposed the most disruptive sanctions on Russia’s oil trade by any Western country since it began its invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Bloomberg report, there are now two main plans on the table for the Trump team.
The first plan is a set of policy recommendations that involves good-faith measures to benefit sanctioned Russian oil producers, which some in Trump’s camp believe might help secure peace. However, that plan may only be used if the incoming administration feels that a resolution is near.
The second plan involves building on the sanctions Biden has already put in place, increasing the pressure on Russia and using it as leverage moving forward.
Those helping compile the plans include some of Trump’s cabinet nominees and former sanctions officials who served under the president-elect during his first term. The plans have also received input from some conservative-leaning think tanks.
However, Trump has yet to fill some roles that could play a part in any sanction-laden plans, and questions remain about whether or not some members of the Treasury Department will stay in their roles.
But while both plans have garnered backing from Trump’s advisers, they are both still in the early stages, and Trump has yet to choose which path he will take, the report said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, shared during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that utilizing sanctions could be a key way to force a peaceful resolution.
As for how talks have gone so far, Trump said last week that he was setting up a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, potentially opening the door for him to feel out how far they might be from a deal.
Still, Trump and his team will face similar issues that Biden’s administration did, like how to put pressure on Russia while not disrupting and driving up prices in the oil market. Sanctions could also have an impact on the US economy by damaging the status of the dollar as the global reserve currency.