How will Trump respond if Putin refuses Ukraine-favored peace deal? Diplomat Bryza explains

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

“President Trump sees himself as a dealmaker and a highly skilled negotiator. His most famous book is The Art of the Deal, and he understands that for any deal to succeed, there must be both satisfaction and some level of dissatisfaction for each party involved. That is how deals work. One side must give up something to gain something else, and vice versa,” Bryza believes.

The diplomat noted that Donald Trump has serious leverage over Russia, with the primary one being increased economic pressure. Strengthening economic pressure on Russia could ultimately break the aggressor’s economy, without which the Kremlin would be unable to continue waging war.

“Trump knows that he cannot expect Ukraine to concede too much. He is not naive. He understands that Putin has ambitions in Ukraine, as you just described. That is why I believe Trump has made statements, including one shortly after his inauguration about a week ago Tuesday while signing some documents. He essentially said, to paraphrase, that Putin must make peace.

The Russian economy is in serious trouble, and if Putin does not agree to a peace settlement that is acceptable to Ukraine, the United States will impose severe tariffs. The Russian economy is already struggling, and from Trump's perspective, it cannot withstand maximum US economic pressure for long. That is his point of view.

Trump wants to force Putin to abandon some of his most extreme goals, such as maintaining control or sovereignty over parts of Ukraine. Now we have to wait and see what happens in the negotiations. This is ultimately a struggle for power with Trump using US economic leverage against Russia,” Bryza explained.

• On January 15, Bloomberg reported that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, in any negotiations with future U.S. President Donald Trump, would demand that Kyiv sever military ties with NATO and recognize Russia’s control over nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory, including annexed Crimea.
• On January 24, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that China supports the U.S. administration’s intentions to end the “Ukrainian crisis” as soon as possible but believes that negotiations are the only way to achieve this.
• On January 31, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration had held “very serious” discussions with Russia. He hopes to do something “significant” together with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to end the war.