With No Deal With Putin, Will US Tariff China's Oil Trade? What Trump Said
US President Donald Trump seems to have softened his stance on Moscow's oil trade after meeting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. When asked about retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China and India for buying Russian oil, the American leader said he has no immediate plans to consider that, but might do it "in two or three weeks."
Trump was asked by Fox News' Sean Hannity if he was now considering punitive actions against Beijing after talks with Putin failed to produce an agreement to resolve or pause Moscow's war in Ukraine.
"Well, because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that...Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well," Trump said after his summit with Putin in Alaska.
Before he met with Putin, Trump had claimed Russia lost India as one of its oil clients after Washington announced a penalty on New Delhi over the purchases, which pushed the Russian leader to the negotiation table.
America has threatened sanctions on Moscow and secondary sanctions on countries that buy its oil if no moves are made to end the war in Ukraine. China and India are Russia's top two oil buyers.
The US has already imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports of Indian goods last week, citing its continued imports of Russian oil. However, no similar action has been taken against China so far.
Beijing's slowing economy is likely to suffer a blow if Trump follows through on a promise to ramp up Russia-related sanctions and tariffs. Chinese President Xi Jinping is working with Trump on a trade deal that could lower tensions - and import taxes - between the world's two biggest economies. But China could be the biggest remaining target, outside of Russia, if Trump ramps up punitive measures.
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Hindustan Times
7 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Five dangerous fault lines divide Trump and Zelensky
On August 18th Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, will enter the White House to meet Donald Trump and discuss ending the war in Ukraine . For Mr Zelensky it is a perilous moment. Since Mr Trump met Vladimir Putin , Russia's president, in Alaska on August 15th, the American president has put intense pressure on Mr Zelensky, stating that he could 'end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to'. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and the European Union fear the White House will sell out Ukraine and Europe, and are rushing to Washington to support Mr Zelensky. 'Never had so many European leaders at one time,' wrote Mr Trump. 'My great honour to host them!' What are the contours of the negotiations? In the past 48 hours there has been a swirl of speculation and public comments by Team Trump. It is hard to know what the president is thinking. But five critical issues for any peace deal are likely to be discussed: sequencing, territory, security guarantees, sanctions and recognition. In each case, America will struggle to bridge the demands of Mr Putin with those of Ukraine and Europe. Map Start with sequencing, where Mr Trump has already all but folded to Mr Putin, dropping his demand that Russia should agree to a ceasefire ahead of formal peace talks. The Kremlin is keen to negotiate while the fighting still rages. On Sunday Mr Zelensky insisted that Ukraine would not begin talks with Russia 'under the pressure of weapons'. But that position—already undercut by Mr Trump's cosy bilateral meeting with Mr Putin—can probably not withstand for long American pressure to force Ukraine to the table. If the discussion moves straight to 'final' peace talks, the second issue is terrain, or what Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's envoy, calls 'land swaps'. Russia controls all of Crimea, which it seized and annexed in 2014. Mr Trump says that the peninsula will remain in Russian hands. But Russia also claims and has formally annexed four provinces in southern and eastern Ukraine which its troops do not entirely control (see map). One proposal, which Mr Witkoff hinted at on Sunday, is reportedly for Ukraine to cede Donetsk and Luhansk entirely to Russia, including the areas that it does not presently control—and which British defence intelligence suggests could require four-plus years and more than 1.9m casualties to take on present trends. In exchange Russia would freeze the front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhia. It would also withdraw from the pockets of territory that it controls in Sumy and Kharkhiv, two northern provinces. Much of this would be anathema to Ukraine. 'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,' Mr Zelensky has said. The terrain in question in Donetsk and to an extent in Luhansk, is especially important because it is heavily fortified by Ukraine's army. Without it Ukraine would find it harder to defend the rest of the country against future Russian attacks. How to make any agreement on borders binding leads to the third issue: security guarantees. America has suggested that Ukraine's membership of NATO (an aspiration the alliance promised in 2008 to fulfil and which is enshrined in the country's constitution) is off the table. Forswearing NATO membership for Ukraine has long been a key Russian demand. Yet on Sunday Mr Witkoff claimed that America could offer some kind of guarantee, modelled on NATO's Article 5, a mutual-defence clause. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, put more emphasis on guarantees from Europe. 'It would be a very big move by the President if he were to offer a US commitment to a security guarantee. That will be his decision to make.' But the detail matters: in earlier talks, in 2022, Russia appeared to agree to international guarantees, but demanded a clause that would have given it a veto on any assistance to Ukraine. Closely related to that is the question of boots on the ground. Britain has said it could send troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force. But whether a European-only force is really credible is open to question. Very few troops have been promised for such a force, despite months of discussion. If America does not take part in a credible security guarantee European countries will push hard to at least secure promises about the supply of weapons from America. Mr Putin may try to push for limits on the flow of arms to Ukraine from the West. A priority for Russia is sanctions relief, the fourth issue. Mr Trump has used both threats of more financial warfare and the promise of future business deals as negotiating tools. On the one hand, he has threatened big importers of Russian oil, such as India, with swingeing tariffs. On the other, he and his team have dangled energy co-operation in the Arctic and other business partnerships. Russia's economy, which has weathered the impact of harsh Western sanctions since 2022, is beginning to feel the strain. Officials, who warn of a recession later this year, badly want the restrictions lifted. Here, Europe has some leverage. America would struggle to ease the economic strain on Russia without the full co-operation of Europe, which has a critical role in global banking, insurance, energy and shipping markets. Furthermore roughly two-thirds of the Russian central bank's foreign reserves that the West froze in 2022— thought to be worth more than $300bn—are are held in Brussels. Europe may be reluctant to release them if Mr Trump's deal weakens Ukraine. The final critical issue is recognition of any deal. Ukraine's constitution would require any 'land swap' to be put to a referendum, in which voters would almost certainly reject it. European leaders would be reluctant to endorse any deal that permanently recognises borders that have been altered by force. Whether America would do so for the sake of a peace deal is unclear. It is possible that America could recognise Russia's claim to Crimea, but not to other areas. Another fudge is for Europe to recognise the ceasefire line as a de-facto border without renouncing its view that Ukraine's pre-invasion border is the legitimate one. Mr Trump's meeting with Mr Zelensky and Ukraine's European allies will be a high-wire act of diplomacy. The brief, separate statements that Mr Trump and Mr Putin gave on August 15th, without taking questions from journalists, suggest that their plans are fragile. Mr Trump says he wants to bring the war to an end. For Ukraine and Europe the fear is that Mr Trump tries to force them to accept bad terms on the five key issues, and then threatens to abandon or punish Ukraine and Europe if they refuse. If this is how the talks turn out, Mr Putin will be the clear winner.
The Hindu
7 minutes ago
- The Hindu
From The Hindu, August 19, 1925: China's coastal traffic
Canton, Aug 18: The Chinese authorities have drawn up rules with regard to the coastal navigation, providing that steamers of any nationality except British and Japanese shall be allowed to run to and from any ports provided that they omit Hong Kong. All steamers entering that port must be inspected by a picket of Anti Imperialist Union. The export of foodstuffs or any other raw material from island will not be allowed.
India Today
7 minutes ago
- India Today
Trump interrupts talks with European leaders to call Putin: Report
US President Donald Trump interrupted a high-stakes White House meeting with European leaders on Monday to place a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, an EU diplomat told talks are expected to resume afterward, the diplomat added, noting Trump had initially indicated the call would come only after consultations with his European interruption occurred as Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union, and the secretary-general of NATO. Germany's Bild newspaper first reported the 'We'll try to work out a trilateral with the US, Ukraine and Russia,' Trump had told reporters earlier in the day, adding, 'Putin really would like to do something.'The talks with Zelenskyy and European leaders were due to resume after the call. European officials are pushing Trump to secure binding security guarantees for Ukraine, while Zelenskyy has made clear that any peace deal must avoid territorial Zelenskyy and Trump expressed optimism on Monday that high-stakes White House talks with European leaders could open the door to trilateral negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at ending the war in summit followed Trump's recent meeting with Putin in Alaska, after which he suggested that the responsibility now rests with Zelenskyy to consider concessions that, in his view, could bring the conflict to an end.- Ends
