NEW YORK: US Ambas­sador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke prematurely in saying the Trump administration would imminently impose new sanctions against Russia over its support for the Assad regime in Syria, Trump administration officials said, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Speaking on CBS Face the Nation programme on Sun­day, Haley said Treasury Sec­­­retary Steven Mnuchin would announce sanctions the following day targeting companies that might have played a role in the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons.

According to WSJ, senior White House officials said her comments surprised them, adding the administration is evaluating sanctions but isn’t ready to roll them out yet. They said her remarks also rubbed against a longstanding tenet of Treasury’s sanctions practices: Avoid telegraphing pending actions to prevent targets from being able to pull their assets out of US reach.

Several administration officials also said Haley got ahead of President Donald Trump’s decision-making when she hit the talk shows on Sunday and said the US would level new sanctions the next day targeting Russian companies that facilitated the Syr­ian regime’s chemical weapons programme. The sanctions have yet to come, WSJ said.

“She got ahead of the curve,” National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told correspondents on Tuesday near the President’s Florida estate, a day after a report claiming Trump “put the brakes” on plans for new Russia sanctions.

“She’s done a great job, she’s a very effective ambassador. There might have been some momentary confusion about that. Additional sanctions are under consideration, but not implemented.”

However, Haley hit back with a terse statement: “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”

A spokeswoman for Kudlow said later on Tuesday that he had called Haley to apologise. He said there was a “process mix-up” and told her she wasn’t mistaken.

She accepted his apology and the two ended the call “on good terms”, the spokeswoman said.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018