A warning couched as advice. That was, in essence, the message Donald Trump sent to Volodymyr Zelensky , asking Ukraine to stop attacking Russia’s diesel infrastructure .
“We talked to Mr. Zelensky about that. There are many other targets. Don’t hit the diesel, because it causes a diesel shortage,” the US president told reporters during his visit to Ireland . He added that he told the Ukrainian president that “you have to stop destroying diesel in Russia.”
The reasoning behind the call is purely practical . Strikes on Russian refineries take away from global supply and push up prices , which translates into more expensive fuel for the American consumer.
Trump, in fact, was clear about the cause, noting that the situation is not due to the Middle East but to what is happening between Russia and Ukraine.
Referring to Iran , the US president reiterated that he expects the war to end within the year, possibly right after the midterm elections in November, resulting in a drop in oil prices. “The war with Iran will end right after the midterm elections, maybe even before. The price of gasoline will plummet,” he said.
Regarding the possibility of an agreement, he appeared convinced that pressure is working. “I will tell you this, Iran really wants a deal. They are constantly calling. They want a deal. They have to come to the right deal. I am not going to sign a deal that is not good,” he said, while expressing indifference to the possibility of the Gulf countries meeting with Tehran. “I don’t care. That depends on them,” he commented.
The sharpest line, however, was about what comes next. Trump said the US would eventually withdraw from Iran, “unless we decide to stay and exploit the oil , like in Venezuela .”
On another front, the US president attacked critics of Artificial Intelligence , who have warned that companies should slow down the development of the technology, calling them “negative forces.” “I think there are a lot of negative forces that are bringing up the issue when they shouldn’t be, and saying things that won’t happen,” he said.
His argument is quintessentially competitive. ” We are ahead of China in the field of Artificial Intelligence. We are the most advanced country in the world and, frankly, I want it to stay that way, because whoever wins in the field of Artificial Intelligence, wins,” he stressed, adding that restrictions could also be imposed.
Speaking at the Fed ‘s monetary policy meeting, Trump argued that the US should pay the lowest interest rate in the world , regardless of the central bank’s calculations. The country, he said, has “the best credit rating in the world. We make other countries rich. We can stop this in two minutes.”
Finally, he reiterated his support for Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom and reuniting with the Republic of Ireland. “We have Northern Ireland and we have Ireland and it seems to me that one of the most natural things of all time is to unite them,” he said, confirming comments he had made in Dublin on Saturday. On Scotland , however, he avoided taking a position. “You asked me about Scotland. I will not talk about that yet. I will leave that for another day,” he added.
Reading the series of statements as a whole, one discerns a common thread . From the exhortation to Kiev to the prediction about Iran and the pressure on the Fed, the criterion that comes back is consistently the same: the price at the pump and the cost of money for the American citizen, with the November midterm elections in sight.
