Trump Says He Can Pressure Russia, Prefers Not To

US President Donald Trump said he could do “very bad” things to pressure Russia financially but prefers not to upon meeting Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin in the White House on Wednesday. 

During the meeting, the two touched on the war in Ukraine, with Trump declining to get into specifics when questioned if he intends to pressure Russia into accepting the US-backed 30-day ceasefire proposal to which Kyiv has agreed. 

“We can, but I hope it’s not going to be necessary,” Trump said, hinting at possible sanctions before saying he “[doesn’t] want to do that because [he wants] to get peace.”

“There are things you could do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense… I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace,” he added, according to Good Morning America. 

Trump also reiterated an earlier remark that Ukraine “might have been the more difficult party.”

“We’ve got Ukraine done. And, as you know, I’ve always said that Ukraine might have been the more difficult party,” Trump added. 

Meanwhile, Martin commented on the 30-day ceasefire by saying any actions towards peace should be taken, referencing the Northern Ireland peace agreement and the ceasefires in the 1990s, Ireland’s Business Post reported. 

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Trump’s meeting with Martin marked the first visit by an EU leader in the Oval Office after the infamous meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 28. 

The meeting is part of the St Patrick’s Day program of events.

Prior to meeting Trump, Martin met US Vice President JD Vance in the latter’s residence for a breakfast meeting, where Martin said Ireland is ready to “play [its] part in supporting work to end conflict and to secure peace, whether in the Middle East or in Ukraine” in his address, according to The Irish Times. 

Ireland is reportedly one of the Western nations that expressed willingness to deploy troops to Ukraine to safeguard a peace settlement. 

After signaling an openness to deploy peacekeepers to Ukraine, Ireland began working towards a legislative change to remove UN Security Council approval as a prerequisite to deploy troops overseas.