WASHINGTON — President Trump publicly cast doubt Monday on the need for a bipartisan sanctions bill meant to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia to end its bloody war on Ukraine.

“I’m not sure we need it,” Trump quipped during an Oval Office meeting with NATO boss Mark Rutte. “It could be very useful, we will have to see.”

The Senate bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would put 500% tariffs on purchasers of Russian energy — including uranium, gas, and oil.

“The 500[% figure] is sort of meaningless after a while because at a certain point it doesn’t matter,” the president added. “I don’t know what they’re going to end up with.”

“But they’re doing some good work … in the House and the Senate.”

Trump revealed plans to slap 100% “secondary tariffs” on Russia after 50 days — using executive power — if Moscow doesn’t agree to a peace deal, apparently referring to duties on Russian goods and sanctions on countries that by products from the US adversary.

More than 80 senators have signed onto the bipartisan sanctions package, but leadership has been waiting on the go-ahead from Trump. The measure is intended to squeeze Russia after Moscow’s economy minister warned last month that the country was “on the brink of recession.”

Trump’s team has been negotiating with the Senate over details of the package, pressing for more flexibility for the president to potentially waive the tariffs during negotiations with the Kremlin.

After Trump announced the 100% “secondary tariff” threat against Russia, Graham and Blumenthal applauded the move as a “real executive hammer to drive the parties to the negotiating table,” and indicated they still planned to forge ahead with their measure on Capitol Hill.

“We will join our colleagues in continuing to work with the White House on our bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation that would implement up to 500[%] tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas, and do not help Ukraine,” the pair said in a joint statement. 

“The benefit of our approach is that it blends congressional authorization of tariffs and sanctions with flexibility for presidential implementation, making it rock solid legally and politically.”

Graham and Blumenthal stressed that the goal “is not more tariffs and sanctions,” but “to entice Putin to come to the peace table.”

“It is long overdue for the financial backers of Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine to pay a price for buying cheap energy products and marking it up in order to benefit their economies,” they added. “The days of doing this without consequences are coming to an end.” 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) met with Trump Monday afternoon to discuss the measure and indicated he would let the president take the lead.

“It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own,” Thune told reporters. “If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we’ll do it. We’ll be ready to go.”

Under the current version of the bill, Trump could issue a 180-day waiver on his own and a second waiver after that, which would require congressional input. But the White House wants even more flexibility.

The US and Europe slapped crippling sanctions on Russia following the February 2022 invasion, but Moscow managed to withstand those punitive measures by tapping into its National Wealth Fund, printing money and selling its energy to willing countries. 

A recent analysis by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that the Europeans spend more on Russian oil than on aid to Ukraine.