CNN
 — 

When President Donald Trump won last year’s election, European officials quickly began discussing how to sustain US weapons shipments to Ukraine under a leader who had vowed to pull back American support.

Eight months later, the results of that plan are coming into view, with Trump on board with a novel idea to sell US weapons to European nations that will then transfer them to Kyiv.

The president announced the plan during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday. The president also laid out a new deadline for Russia — threatening trade consequences if no peace deal is reached with Ukraine within 50 days.

“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” Trump said. “Tariffs at about 100% you’d call them secondary tariffs. You know what that means.”

A White House official clarified to CNN that when the president referred to “secondary tariffs,” he meant 100% tariffs on Russia and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy Russian oil.

As for the weapons, in addition to Patriot missile batteries — the top item on Kyiv’s wish list and one Trump said Sunday was vital to Ukraine’s defenses — the US could also sell short-range missiles, Howitzer rounds and medium-range air-to-air missiles to NATO members, which would then be transferred to Ukraine, a person familiar with the deliberations said.

The thinking behind Trump’s decision on weapons is multifold, officials said.

By selling weapons to European nations, rather than transferring them to Ukraine itself, Trump hopes to insulate himself from political criticism that he is reversing a campaign pledge to reduce the US role in the years-long war.

He is also expecting a financial windfall: each Patriot missile system costs roughly $1 billion and he has already touted the profits for the US as part of the scheme.

American officials also noted it would be quicker to get the Patriot systems to Ukraine if they are already in Europe as opposed to moving them from the United States or producing them new at a US factory.

And, at least in the view of some US officials, providing Ukraine with a surge in new weaponry could send a signal to Moscow that Trump is serious about his frustrations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who the US leader accused of peddling “bullshit” last week.

“He’s seriously frustrated with Putin,” a US official said. “He wants to show he’s serious about ending the war, and maybe this will show Putin it’s time to start negotiating.”

The plan was discussed in earnest around last month’s NATO summit in the Netherlands, where Trump met with European leaders and the Ukrainian president for talks described by people familiar as surprisingly productive.

But its origins actually came months earlier, after Trump won last year’s election — thrusting US support for Kyiv into fresh doubt. European officials, at that stage, began conceiving of a way to allow for continued weapons support to Ukraine even if Trump pulled back Washington’s role, as he had promised as a candidate.

For the last two weeks, officials in the US and Europe have been working on the details of how the plan would operate. NATO does not itself dispatch weapons to Ukraine, but rather acts as a clearinghouse, coordinating deliveries from individual countries.

The mechanism for transferring the weapons could include European nations transferring weapons already bought from the United States and backfilling them with new purchases. Or they could purchase new US weapons for immediate transfer to Ukraine.

Among the countries already on tap to participate are Germany and Norway. Officials said at least four other countries are likely to join.

Trump spoke last week to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Merz said on the call he was looking for the US to deliver the systems to Germany so they could be transferred to Ukraine, a person familiar with the call said.

He also spoke on Thursday with Rutte to discuss the initiative and lay plans for the secretary general’s visit to the White House on Monday.

Rutte later spoke with top US military officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to delve further into the details of the plan.

On that call, Rutte said he’d received several messages of interest from European nations looking to join in, a person familiar said.

Ukraine has said it needs 10 new Patriot systems to protect itself against Russia’s increased onslaught of missiles and drones.

At last month’s NATO meeting in the Netherlands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented Trump and other leaders with a list of weaponry he said his country needs to stave off Russia’s invasion, according to a US official.

Trump has signed off on some of the items.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

London
CNN
 — 

US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will travel to the United Kingdom in September for an “unprecedented” second state visit at the invitation of King Charles, which is unlikely to have any public-facing events.

The visit is scheduled for September 17-19, the palace announced Sunday, coinciding with a recess in the House of Commons. That removes the possibility of Trump addressing a joint session of parliament – a prospect that some MPs had urged the Speaker of the House to refuse.

King Charles will host Trump at Windsor Castle, about an hour from central London, the palace said in a statement. The usual venue for state visits, Buckingham Palace, is undergoing significant renovations this year.

Windsor was also the site of French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit last week, before Macron traveled to London to attend a summit at Downing Street and deliver a speech to parliament.

Typically, second-term US presidents are not invited for a second state visit. In keeping with tradition, former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were offered lunch or tea with the monarch during their second administrations.

But the “unprecedented” offer was extended on the king’s behalf by Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his trip to the White House earlier this year, which Trump enthusiastically accepted. A formal invitation was then sent in June, but the two leaders were unable to meet during the summer due to scheduling conflicts.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

“His Majesty has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year,” a palace aide told CNN in June.

More specifics about the state visit will be released in the future, the palace statement said. As with every state visit, it will include a full ceremonial welcome and state banquet. All senior members of the Royal Family are expected to take part.

During his first formal state visit in 2019, Trump was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. But due to security concerns, there was no public procession along The Mall in London, and the president arrived by helicopter.

CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey contributed to this report.

London
CNN
 — 

The European Union has warned that its trade with the United States could be effectively wiped out if Washington makes good on its threat to slap a 30% tariff on goods imported from the bloc.

A tariff of “30%, or anything above 30%… has more or less the same effect. So, practically it prohibits the trade,” Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, said as he arrived ahead of an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Šefčovič said it will “be almost impossible” for the bloc to continue its current level of trade with America if that new tariff rate is implemented on August 1 – the date stipulated by US President Donald Trump in his letter to the EU on Saturday.

“If (the tariff) stays 30 (percent) plus, simply trading as we know it will not continue, with huge negative effects on both sides of the Atlantic,” he added. “I will definitely do everything I can to prevent this super-negative scenario.”

The EU-US trade relationship is mighty. According to the European Council, EU-US bilateral trade in goods and services was worth €1.68 trillion ($1.96 trillion) last year. Together, the partners represent nearly 30% of global goods and services trade, per the Council.

But Trump has repeatedly rebuked the EU for what he sees as unfair trading practices, saying in April that the 27-nation bloc was “formed to screw” America. He has pointed to EU tariffs on US goods as well as several “non-tariff barriers” such as taxes on digital services to support that view.

Since re-taking office in January, Trump has hiked – and threatened to hike – tariffs on countries around the world to help eliminate the US’ trade deficit, bring manufacturing jobs back to America and bring foreign nations to heel on key disputes.

For months, EU trade officials have been negotiating with their US counterparts to avoid Trump’s tariffs, or to limit their damage. But after the US president threatened in May to jack up the rate of his so-called “reciprocal” levy on EU goods from 20% to 50%, the bloc accelerated talks.

Šefčovič reiterated on Monday that the EU seeks a negotiated solution as well as his belief that one had been within touching distance before Trump’s latest tariff salvo. “The feeling on our side was that we are very close to an agreement,” he said, noting that the bloc is demonstrating “enormous” levels of patience and creativity to secure a deal.

On Sunday, the EU said it will delay the implementation of planned countermeasures on €21 billion ($25 billion) worth of US exports from Monday until early August to allow more time to negotiate an agreement. Those countermeasures are in retaliation for the 25% tariff Washington has slapped on all steel and aluminium imports.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, said the bloc wants a fair deal and that it should prepare to retaliate.

“If you want peace, you have to prepare for war, and I think that’s where we are. So, of course, we shouldn’t impose countermeasures (at) this stage, but we should prepare to be ready to use all the tool in the toolbox,” Rasmussen said before the meeting of EU trade ministers on Monday.

European stocks were falling Monday morning in the first day of trade since Trump issued his new tariff threat over the weekend. The Stoxx Europe 600, the region’s benchmark index, was trading 0.27% lower by early afternoon CET.