Zelenskyy rejects Trump suggestion that Ukraine will give up territory
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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump says he will ‘try to get some territory back for Ukraine' ahead of meeting with Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump has said he will attempt to get some territory back for Ukraine as he prepares to meet his Russian counterpart to discuss ending the war this week Ahead of his summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, the US President said there will be 'some swapping, some changes to land'. He has previously signalled that he thinks Ukraine might need to cede some territory to end the conflict. Reports have suggested this could involve giving up the Donetsk region to Russia, a proposal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected as it would compromise his country's territorial integrity. During a press conference on Monday, Trump told reporters: 'Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. 'We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine.' He added that the war will be 'solved' once Zelensky and Putin are 'in a room' together. "I'm here for one reason, to get rid of a war that somebody else started," he said. 'I'm going to put the two of them in a room - I'll be there or I won't be there - and I think it will get solved.' Downing Street has backed Trump's interventions over the Ukraine war but warned Putin cannot be trusted "as far as you can throw him". Kyiv has expressed concerns about the prospect of being excluded from peace talks this week to discuss the future of the Kremlin's invasion. Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer believes the Russian President could be trusted in negotiations, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the UK supported both Kyiv and the US President's push for peace, but not Moscow. "Never trust President Putin as far as you could throw him, but we obviously will support Ukraine," he said on Monday. "We will obviously support President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations. "But it is exactly why we've been leading this work on the coalition of the willing, because any ceasefire, as I say, cannot just be an opportunity for President Putin to go away, re-arm, restrengthen, and then go again. "So, we're not going to leave it to trust. We're going to ensure that we're prepared such that we achieve a ceasefire." Planning for the so-called coalition of the willing, which would involve a European-led peacekeeping force sent to Ukraine to monitor any future truce, began in March. Number 10 said "operational planning continues at a military level" but no talks between leaders are planned for this week. Asked whether work relating to the coalition had been put on hold to keep the road clear for Washington-led mediation on Friday, the Prime Minister's spokesman said: "No... if anything, the next step really is reaching that ceasefire, such that we're then able to to implement the security guarantees." It comes after European leaders including Sir Keir said the path to peace for Kyiv "cannot be decided without Ukraine" and the current line of contact between Russia and Ukraine could only be a "starting point of negotiations". In a joint statement, the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission said: "Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny. Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities. "The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. "We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force."
CNN
20 minutes ago
- CNN
The world's biggest company got caught in the middle of Trump's AI war with China
Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, has found itself caught in the middle of President Donald Trump's historic trade war with China. The result: an extraordinary concession from a $4.5 trillion corporation that will give the United States a percentage of every high-end AI chip sold in China. The deal, which AMD also signed for some of its chips, could split the difference between two competing Trump administration goals: maintain America's AI dominance while securing a critical trade agreement with China. It could also give the White House billions of dollars to spend as it wishes. Nvidia and AMD have agreed to pay the US government 15% of their revenues from semiconductor sales to China in exchange for licenses to export their technology there. The White House in April blocked the export of certain AI chips to China, including Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips. The deal with the Trump administration allows the companies to obtain export licenses to restart sales of those chips in China, a US official told CNN. The Financial Times first reported the story Sunday. Nvidia previewed the deal last month, when it said it would resume sales of the H20 chip to China after the Trump administration expressed openness to allowing the export of certain AI chips again. But the 15% payment was a surprise. Trump said Nvidia was initially asked to pay a 20% cut, but they negotiated the rate down to 15%. The deal came together after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the official said. Although the export licenses were granted Friday, no shipments have yet been made. 'We follow rules the US government sets for our participation in worldwide markets,' a Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement. 'While we haven't shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide.' AMD has not responded to CNN's request for comment. Governments, including the United States, have taken control of companies in the past when they were considered to be of strategic importance to national security. During the financial crisis in 2009, the United States took control of General Motors and Chrysler, and the proceeds of those stakes went directly into the US Treasury after the government sold them for a profit. But it's not clear that the US government has ever demanded a percentage of a company's business without taking an equity stake – or if it's even legal to do so. The US Constitution forbids taxes on exports. To get around that, the deal's terms have been structured as a voluntary agreement, so it won't be considered a tax or a tariff, a US official said. Instead, Nvidia and AMD will voluntarily send funds to the US government. The companies will have no say whatsoever on how the US government deploys that money after it is sent. 'It's hard to identify any historical precedent for this sort of arrangement,' said Sarah Kreps, law professor and director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University's Brooks School of Public Policy. In recent years, the US government has sought to restrict China's access to advanced American technology in an effort to slow its progress on AI and let the United States get farther ahead. But the White House's reversal on export controls may be an acknowledgement that China is advancing in AI regardless, so American companies might as well be allowed to benefit. It could also give the White House another way to raise revenue for the US government, along with tariffs. 'It seems like there's been some vacillation within the administration about and toward China, and I think that reflects the internal divide within the administration between the China hawks and the economic pragmatists,' Kreps said. 'It seems like increasingly, the economic pragmatists are holding sway.' That approach would align with arguments from Nvidia's Huang, who has said that restricting sales of American AI chips is bad for US national security. Chinese developers could simply undermine US leadership by creating their own alternatives if they can't buy American technology, according to Huang, who has met with Trump repeatedly in recent months. The White House agrees with Huang, believing it's better to have China locked into a US-made chip sold through legitimate channels than to force China to the black market, a US official said. China has been able to subvert existing channels to obtain restricted chips anyway. Big questions remain about where the 15% commission idea emerged and what it could mean for national security. A US official said that the payment allows the administration to maintain control of the export process and bring in revenue for the US government in the process. Still, it's not clear that the penalty for Nvidia and AMD will effectively limit the flow of the chips or erase any potential national security issues. 'If there's a legitimate national security concern about exporting these chips to China, then I don't see how the payments to the US government address those risks. In fact, they don't at all,' said Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'And if there's not a sufficient national security risk or they can be adequately mitigated … then the US government should just get out of the way and expect nothing in return.' Nvidia released the H20 chip last year as a way to maintain access to the Chinese market — which made up 13% of the company's sales in 2024 — in the face of US export controls imposed by the Biden administration. But the chips are widely believed to have contributed to DeepSeek, an advanced Chinese AI model that shook Silicon Valley upon its release earlier this year, raising concerns that China was further ahead on AI than previously understood. After the Trump administration barred H20 sales to China in April, Nvidia said it took billions of dollars in charges and lost revenue because of the export controls in the first quarter and projected a similar outcome in the second quarter. So, even if it has to fork over 15% of those sales to the White House, resuming shipments of the H20 to China could mean billions more dollars in revenue for Nvidia — which became the first publicly traded company to top $4 trillion in valuation last month. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) rose as much as 0.5% on Monday. Trump on Monday called Nvidia's H20 chip 'obsolete,' saying that China 'already has it in a different form.' But some experts disagree with Trump's characterization of the chips. 'These H20s are still state of the art,' CSIS's Kennedy said. Although they're less advanced, in some ways, than other Nvidia chips, 'they also come with elements that make them extremely sophisticated and valuable,' including their memory capabilities. 'I think suggestions that they are obsolete understate the value to user,' he said. Nvidia likely reasoned that there is enough Chinese demand for the chips to make the 15% commission to the White House a worthwhile trade-off for its business, according to Kreps. 'You have to do a calculation based on what was lost from the export controls,' she said. Trump on Monday left open the possibility that Nvidia could export its super high-end Blackwell chips for a higher price. The Trump administration had closed the door on the export of that technology to China — even after reversing course on the H20. However, Trump on Monday said that he'd consider allowing Nvidia to sell the Blackwell chip. 'The Blackwell is superduper advanced. I wouldn't make a deal with that, although it's possible,' Trump said. 'I'd make a deal a somewhat enhanced in a negative way. Blackwell, in other words, take 30% to 50% off of it, but that's the latest and the greatest in the world. Nobody has it. They won't have it for five years.' Trump said Huang will return to the White House in the future to discuss selling an 'unenhanced' version of Blackwell. 'I think he's coming to see me again about that, but that will be a unenhanced version of the big one,' Trump said. 'You know, we will sometimes sell fighter jets to a country and we'll give them 20% less than we have.' Questions from Beijing about the security of American AI chips also raise uncertainty about just how successful Trump's commission policy could be. China could choose not to buy US tech firm Nvidia's H20 chips, the social media account Yuyuan Tantian, which is affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, said on Sunday. It claimed that the chips could have 'backdoors' that impact their function and security, following previous similar claims from China's cybersecurity administration. Nvidia has repeatedly denied that its products have backdoors. However, that statement could be less an indication that China won't buy American chips and more a signal to Chinese tech companies to continue innovating in semiconductors even if US shipments do resume, Kennedy said. For the Trump administration, the cost-benefit analysis is that it opens up the flow of mid-tier chips to China while giving the administration a key bargaining chip in its ongoing trade talks, a US official said. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called Nvidia export controls a 'negotiating chip' in the larger US-China trade talks. But China knows that, and its posturing over supposed security concerns with the H20 chip this weekend suggests that it won't be won over so easily — even if it wants the chips for its market.
The Hill
21 minutes ago
- The Hill
China and Russia have the leverage to disrupt Trump's dealmaking
President Trump is planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin potentially this week in the Alaska. The topic is the war in Ukraine and Trump's intention to end the killing there. Obviously, despite what Trump promised during the election, 24 hours was not enough time to reach an agreement. Trump sending his ubiquitous envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow last week suggests this was the president's initiative and not Putin's. Perhaps Trump did not want his 10-day demand to Putin to end the war to expire without some measure of success. In any event, one can only speculate why Putin accepted the meeting — and it does not appear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be part of that meeting, although Trump would be obliged to see him separately. Why Putin agreed has several possible explanations. He may need to end the sanctions for economic reasons. His offensive may have gained his objectives in Ukraine. Or Putin may conclude that as the 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements failed to provide security for Ukraine, a cease-fire will allow him to use what Lenin called 'other means' to gain control of his neighbor. So far, the administration has not claimed that Trump's submarine deployments to 'appropriate places' was a deciding factor in convincing or coercing Putin to meet. U.S. submarines have been operating in proximity to the former Soviet Union and now Russia since the Cold War began. On a few occasions, operations were inside Soviet territorial waters. Trump did threaten North Korea's Kim Jong Un with 'fire and fury,' claiming his button — meaning the nuclear trigger — was bigger than Kim's. After this clash of rhetoric, both met twice. But nothing occurred other than Trump's claim that he 'fell in love' with the ' Little Rocket Man.' Did U.S. submarines have the same effect on Putin? At Trump's disposal as commander in chief is the U.S. Navy's fleet of 68 nuclear submarines. Fourteen are Ohio class armed with 7,500 mile range Trident ballistic missiles. Four are able to carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a 1,000 mile range. Fifty are attack boats carrying torpedoes and cruise missiles. How two submarines could get Putin's attention is not clear. Russia has complained mightily when Tomahawk-armed U.S. warships sailed within 1,000 miles of Putin's physical location. But there is no obvious advantage in using Ohio class submarines as a signal, given the range of its Trident missiles. Missile and attack submarines could deploy in proximity to major Russian naval bases in the Kola peninsula in the Arctic or Petropavlovsk in the Pacific. But presumably, U.S. submarines are already there. The Baltic is too confined and shallow for nuclear submarine operations. The Mediterranean Sea is more suitable but gives no strategic advantage. The Black Sea is closed to all submarines not belonging to the littoral states; and the transit of surface warships is restricted by the Montreux Convention. So did the submarines make a difference? Who knows? Sanctions have not seemed to affect Putin's behavior. Russia has deftly shifted selling about half its oil exports to China and India. Trump has imposed sanctions on India but not China yet. Putin knows that Trump-imposed secondary sanctions on China is a double-edged sword. China has not been impressed by Trump's ' liberation day ' threat of tariffs and secondary sanctions. Why? The reason is due to which nation is more dependent on the other — China on the U.S. or the U.S. on China. China has withheld certain rare earth elements from the U.S. on which U.S. companies depend. China has additional assets to leverage. And why would China not seek to poach U.S. exports to other markets? India has less clout than China. A tariff war will drive India closer to China and away from the Quad, which comprises the U.S., Japan, Australia and India. None of this will be in American interests. And there is a worse case. Suppose China and India do cut off energy imports from Russia. Where will they turn? The U.S. cannot make up the difference yet. Increases in demand could drive the price of oil through the proverbial roof, causing a recession or worse. Does Trump understand these realities? Or does he not care? So what leverage does Trump have over Putin, and Putin over Trump? Putin knows Trump wants to end the war. Is Putin seeking a 2025 version of the infamous 1938 Munich Agreement in which United Kingdom Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sought 'peace for our time' or a real solution? Knowing Putin, you have the answer. Harlan Ullman, Ph.D., is UPI's Arnaud deBorchgrave Distinguished Columnist, a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council, the chairman of two private companies and the principal author of the doctrine of shock and awe. He and former United Kingdom Defense Chief David Richards are the authors of a forthcoming book on preventing strategic catastrophe.
