Daniel Bush is a Newsweek White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. His focus is reporting on national politics and foreign affairs. He has covered Congress and U.S. presidential elections, and written extensively about immigration, energy and economic policy. He has reported in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Daniel joined Newsweek in 2022 from the PBS NewsHour and previously worked for E&E News, now part of Politico. He is a graduate of New York University and Columbia University. You can get in touch with Daniel by emailing d.bush@newsweek.com. You can find Daniel on X @DanielBush. Languages: Russian and Spanish.

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States can do "devastating" things to Russia''s economy to put pressure on Moscow to accept a peace deal with Ukraine.

But there''s a limit to what Trump can do to try and bend Russia to his will, analysts who spoke to Newsweek said, given that Russian President Vladimir Putin has waged war on Ukraine for three years despite facing heavy economic sanctions from the West through it all. Putin''s response Thursday to a 30-day ceasefire proposal proved Russia won''t be easily pushed around, as he made clear he was open to a deal only if it includes conditions that will be difficult for Kyiv to accept.

Perhaps Trump''s best available option to pressure Moscow is the one thing he might be least willing to do, experts said: put a much tighter squeeze on Russia''s oil and gas exports, which provide Russia with its main source of revenue and help pay for the war in Ukraine.

"If you''re trying to get to a quicker settlement to the conflict in Ukraine, that''s what you go after, those continued [Russian] energy sales," said Emily Kilcrease, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. "It''s the only thing left."

But Kilcrease said the Trump administration may be hesitant to take a "full-blown approach on energy-related sanctions against Russia, because that would cause additional turmoil" during a moment of rising economic uncertainty at home over the president''s trade policies.

Trump''s domestic energy agenda also makes it harder for him to go after the heart of Russia''s economy. He has blamed his predecessor for the rise in energy prices that was largely driven by Russia''s invasion of Ukraine, and ran on a promise to cut costs and lower inflation. A new spike in prices at the pump sparked by tougher energy sanctions on Russia could backfire with voters, analysts said.

"President Trump came in promising to drive prices at the pump down by half. That highlights the delicate needle he has to thread in engaging with Russia on energy right now," said Mark Finley, an energy expert at Rice University''s Baker Institute. "I suspect they''ll be very cautious about sanctions that would risk taking Russian barrels off the market place."

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.

The issue of how aggressively to go after Russian oil and gas bedeviled America and its allies during the Biden administration. In 2022, the West targeted Russia''s energy sector as part of a broader economic sanctions package coordinated by the U.S., the European Union and members of the Group of Seven (G7) nations.

The measures included a ban on seaborne Russian crude oil exports and a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil. The sanctions were intended to limit Moscow''s profits without fully cutting off countries that depend on Russia — one of the world''s largest oil producers — for their energy needs.

Russia has found ways to skirt the sanctions, however, including by relying on a so-called "shadow fleet" of vessels to continue exporting oil by sea. Russia has also continued exporting natural gas to parts of Europe and ramped up its energy exports to China, India and other countries that have not participated in the sanctions.

Russian oil and gas revenue increased by 26 percent to $108 billion last year, a Reuters report shows. The European Union spent more on Russian oil and gas in 2024 than it did on financial assistance to Ukraine, according to a study published last month by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

So far, the West "hasn''t wanted to put real pressure on Russia," Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Ukraine Parliament''s Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a phone interview with Newsweek. Trump could do that, he said, "by depriving Russia of the profits it receives from selling oil and gas."

There are several steps the U.S. and allies could take, Merezhko and others said. They include lowering the price cap on Russian oil, cracking down harder on the shadow fleet operators and placing secondary sanctions on companies and trading partners like China that continue buying Russian energy.

Going after Russia''s energy sector would represent a shift for Trump. Since he took office, the administration has reportedly considered easing some of the sanctions on Russia that are already in place. In public, Trump has praised Putin repeatedly, while putting greater pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war.

Stepped-up sanctions against Russia''s energy sector would anger the Kremlin, energy experts said. It would also require close coordination with allies at a moment when Trump is openly feuding with Canada, the European Union and others over tariffs, said Finley.

"Getting the allies to speak in one voice on this would be more complicated these days," Finley said.

Trump appeared to acknowledge the dilemma in his comments Wednesday claiming that the U.S. could take devastating actions against Russia''s economy.

"In a financial sense," Trump said, "we could do things [that are] very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia. But I don''t want to do that because I want to see peace."

Putin''s conditional support for a 30-day ceasefire underscored the challenge the U.S. and Ukraine face in convincing Moscow to end the war.

"We definitely support it," Putin said Thursday of the ceasefire proposal put forth by the U.S. and backed by Kyiv, in remarks delivered at a press conference. But Putin said "there are questions that we need to discuss" before Russia agrees, among them whether Ukraine would continue getting Western military assistance during the ceasefire.

The response put the ball back in Trump''s court.

"The White House has been in gifting mode to Moscow," said Andrew D''Anieri, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council''s Eurasia Center. Now, "do they continue to give the Kremlin a free lunch or, as they''ve done to Ukraine, do they try to put more pressure on Moscow?"

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