President Donald Trump declined to say if he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but threatened to impose "massive tariffs" on Russia to end the war with Ukraine, in the second part of an Oval Office interview that aired Thursday night.
The interview was conducted by Fox News' Sean Hannity.
Trump was pressed about his campaign pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and whether he had spoken with the Russian president.
"I don't want to say, but I will tell you, it's gotta end," Trump said.
Trump repeated his warning that Russia would face consequences if it doesn't end the war.
"If they don't settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I'm going to put massive tariffs on Russia and massive taxes, and also big sanctions," Trump said. "And I don't want to do that. You know, I love the Russian people. They're great people. I don't want to do that, but we gotta get this war ended."
Trump also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, saying he was "no angel" and shouldn't have allowed the war to happen either.
Trump was also asked about his phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping before taking office, which he called a friendly conversation.
“It went fine. It was a good, friendly conversation," Trump said. “I had a great relationship with him prior to COVID … They are a very ambitious country. He's a very ambitious man. He's a man that was, you know, I don't want to be naive and say, my friend, but he was like my friend."
-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Fritz Farrow