ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is not considering providing Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles at the moment.

Asked while traveling on Air Force One whether he is considering transferring the missiles to Ukraine, he answered: "No. Not really."

He also said he does not plan to use frozen Russian assets as a negotiating tool, stressing that he is not involved in such discussions going on between Europe and Russia.

"There's no final straw. Sometimes you have to let it fight out. And they're fighting and they're fighting it out," he noted when asked what would be the final straw for him to prove that Russia is not ready to end the war with Ukraine.

He also reaffirmed that he does not set deadlines as part of his alleged war against “narco-terrorism,” refusing to answer questions on his plans to strike military installations in Venezuela.

Trump on Friday also denied media reports that strikes on military installations inside Venezuela could be imminent, telling reporters he had not decided on the matter.

When asked whether he envisages US boots on the ground or air strikes on Nigeria after he threatened the country with possible military action over the alleged "killing of Christians," Trump did not rule out anything.

"I envisage a lot of things," he said.

- 'We would suffer tremendously' without tariffs

Trump also touched on the tariffs case before the US Supreme Court, calling it "one of the most important decisions" in US history.

"We would suffer tremendously from a national security standpoint" if they were not able to use tariffs "freely, openly and in every way," he said.

"If we don't have tariffs, we don't have national security. And the rest of the world would laugh at us because they've used tariffs against us for years and took advantage of us," he added.

The Supreme Court has set Nov. 5 to hear arguments on whether Trump lawfully used emergency powers to impose sweeping worldwide tariffs.

In August, a federal appeals court ruled 7-4 that Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law allowing economic sanctions against “unusual and extraordinary” threats.

Several lower court rulings, including one on Aug. 29 from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, concluded that Trump illegally overstepped Congress’ authority to slap steep duties on imports from many countries.