BRUSSELS, Aug 20: The White House has imposed an additional 10% charge on its arm sales to Europe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier announced that Washington will sell arms to Ukraine through Europe via NATO.
Bessent argued that the additional charges could offset costs for any direct support Washington provides for Kyiv.
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening, Bessent dismissed concerns that US taxpayers would foot the bill for Ukraine’s air cover, stressing that one of President Donald Trump’s key goals has been to avoid sending more money to Kyiv, as he was not going to give Ukraine a carte blanche in regards to weapons or monetary aid, reports RT.
“Right now, we are selling arms to the Europeans who are then selling them on to the Ukrainians. And President Trump’s taking a 10% markup on the arms. So maybe that 10% will cover the cost of the air cover,” he said.
The Treasury Secretary added that Washington and Kyiv had also signed a deal on the mining of rare earth minerals, which will allow the White House to redeem the billions it has spent on Ukraine since 2022, but only once the conflict with Russia has stopped and the partnership has a chance to kick in.
To this effect, the US President had discussed Ukraine and Europe’s security guarantees with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and his European allies in the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, which included leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, European Commission, and NATO.
While he assured continued involvement of the US in Europe’s security, the details were a bit vague, though he ruled out Ukraine’s entry into NATO and refused to put American boots on the ground. Nonetheless, he said that he was open to providing Europe air support.
Russian President Vladmir Putin, during his discussions with Trump had maintained the Kremlin’s demands of Kyiv not being part of NATO, certain territorial cessations, and its demilitarisation and denazification as conditions for ending Moscow’s military campaign, though no agreement had been reached.
Simultaneously, Moscow has heavily panned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning they will only prolong the conflict without changing its outcome while making NATO a direct participant in the hostilities. (UNI)
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