Trump says he's 'not sure' about granting Ukraine Patriot production license

A daily briefing on Trump and global affairs from The Herald Business international desk.

US President Donald Trump said he is uncertain whether Washington will grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missiles, appearing to walk back a commitment he made at a NATO summit earlier this month.

In a phone interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, Trump said he was "not sure" whether the US government would grant Ukraine a Patriot production license, adding that the matter was "under review."

"It's a very extraordinary weapon, and we have to be a little bit careful about who we give licenses to produce it," Trump told the newspaper. "We don't really give licenses to produce equipment."

The remarks contradict what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after his bilateral talks with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Zelensky told reporters that he and Trump had discussed "the production of Patriot interceptor missiles and a few other ideas," and that Trump had "accepted" that Ukraine would be granted a production license.

US President Donald Trump (right) holds bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Bestepe Presidential Complex during the NATO Leaders Summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. [Getty Images]

Trump had said at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8 that the United States would grant Ukraine a Patriot missile production license.

The US-made Patriot air defense system has played a central role in intercepting Russian ballistic missiles targeting Ukrainian cities. Persuading Trump to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles under a US license had been regarded as a major diplomatic achievement for Zelensky.

Zelensky told the Financial Times that he had recently met with Patriot system manufacturers. "I had a meeting with the representatives of the producers. I hope we will have co-production. This is very important," he said.

Patriot interceptor missiles are produced by Lockheed Martin and RTX.

In the same FT interview, Trump said his focus was on ending the war in Ukraine. "Very simply, we want the war between Ukraine and Russia to end," he said. "I'm not looking for missiles. We're looking for peace."

Trump added that two presidential envoys — Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff — would visit Ukraine within days. While both have traveled to Russia since their appointments, a visit to Ukraine would be their first.

A Patriot battery and an F-16 fighter jet deployed in Ukraine. [AP]

On the Middle East, Trump told the FT that it was only a matter of time before Iran capitulated, saying "we are hitting them very hard." He also expressed optimism that the landmark civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia unveiled last week would be finalized, and that the normalization of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel — a prerequisite for the deal — would come to pass.

Trump said he had spoken by phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the matter, describing it as "something that both countries like very much. It can happen."

Trump had also met with Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday.

However, Crown Prince Mohammed has previously stated that normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations would require Israel to take irreversible steps toward enabling the establishment of a Palestinian state — a demand Israel has so far refused to accept.

In the interview, Trump praised British Prime Minister Andy Burnham for signaling a "pragmatic" approach to North Sea oil drilling during their first phone call on the day Burnham took office, July 20. "I think he will do that," Trump said. "If (his predecessor Keir) Starmer had done that, he wouldn't be sitting home watching television right now."

The ruling Labour Party's campaign pledge ahead of the July 2024 general election included a commitment not to issue new North Sea oil drilling licenses, and Burnham had publicly maintained until recently that he would not reverse that position. Options under discussion include allowing additional drilling under existing licenses without issuing new ones, though that approach has drawn criticism as a workaround and is expected to face significant pushback from within the Labour Party.

yckim6452@heraldcorp.com