Trump reverses Nikki Haley on imposing sanctions on Russia

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is reported to have scrapped a plan to impose sanctions on Russia for its support of the Syrian government, reversing an earlier announcement made by his ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.

“We are considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Monday.

In an interview to CBS on Sunday, Haley had said that Syria-related Russia sanctions were coming and treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin would announce them on Monday, “if he hasn’t already”. More specifically, Haley had said the plan was to sanction “companies that were dealing with” equipment related to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and “chemical weapons use”.

While some news reports, citing unidentified officials, said Haley might have misspoken, others indicated there was indeed a plan on the menu of follow-up steps to the April 14 air strikes, but Trump was not ready to execute them and had not given his final authorisation.

His decision to publicly reverse an announcement by Haley has revealed deep schisms in his national security team, in which John Bolton has recently been added as national security adviser. Bolton, a known foreign policy hawk, has advocated a more extensive and “ruinous” strike on Syria, while defence secretary James Mattis has pushed for restraint and limited action, according to The Wall Street Journal.