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'No deal': Takeaways from Trump's Alaska summit with Putin
WASHINGTON – Vladimir Putin caught a ride in the presidential limousine and achieved recognition on the world stage. Donald Trump flew more than 4,000 miles and rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader in Alaska – and left empty-handed after some three hours of negotiations. A much-hyped summit between Trump and Putin that saw the U.S. president flex his deal-making skills achieved no major breakthrough in peace negotiations over Russia's war against Ukraine. The talks culminated in a vague statement to the media in which Putin spoke of an 'agreement.' Trump was then left in the awkward position of declaring 'no deal' had been reached. A planned press conference? Called off. The two leaders spoke briefly and answered no questions. 'There were many, many points that we agree on,' Trump said without elaborating. 'A couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there,' he added. 'So there's no deal until there's a deal.' More: 'No deal': Live updates from Trump-Putin Alaska summit Trump said he'd be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO allies on his way home to debrief them on the conversation with his Russian counterpart, who had been isolated by western leaders after invading Ukraine in 2022. As the American president, who'd warned of 'severe consequences' if a ceasefire wasn't reached, waved goodbye to press while boarding Air Force One for Washington, Putin taxied down the runway in the distance. Putin invokes 'root causes' of war, jabs Trump foe Biden For a television president who regularly fields questions from reporters, Trump's quick exit after the meeting was abnormal. The two men spoke for a combined 12 minutes – with Putin going first. He praised Trump for convening the meeting, saying relations between the two countries had fallen to their lowest point since the Cold War. But he soon brought up old charges about the 'root causes' of the conflict that he's long blamed on NATO enlargement and Ukraine's alignment with the West. And while Putin notably said 'the security of Ukraine should be secured' and Russia was 'prepared to work on that' he did not say what he had in mind. 'I would like to hope that the agreement that we've reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine,' Putin added, without saying what it entailed. He then warned Ukrainian and European leaders not to 'throw a wrench in the works' with 'backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.' 'I just don't think we heard anything that signaled any sort of shift in Russia's maximal position,' David Salvo, a former State Department official who served in Russia. He cast Putin's comments as 'grandstanding' and said of security guarantees for Ukraine, 'I don't think he's ready to soften his position quite yet.' Putin also jabbed at former President Joe Biden and said he agreed with Trump's assertions that the war never would have happened if the Republican had won in 2020. Trump said Putin's comments were 'very profound.' He described the meeting as 'extremely productive' and said the two sides agreed on 'many points' without divulging the details. 'We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,' Trump said. Trump leaves without a ceasefire agreement Hanging over the summit was a potential ceasefire, which Zelenskyy and European leaders thought could emerge from the talks. But expectations fell quickly as Trump talked up potential 'land swaps' that have been rejected by Zelenskyy. Trump sought to lower expectations ahead of the summit and cast the conversation as talks about future talks. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told CNN while the summit was happening, 'I think the best that we could hope for is that there is a commitment coming out of Putin to a ceasefire with enough contours to it that it is believable that it will be more than just a brief moment to check a box here.' The summit ended without any mention of a ceasefire by Putin or Trump, who repeated in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit that he believed an agreement was in sight. Trump added: 'Now it's up to President Zelenskyy to get it done.' He indicated that a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine was part of the discussion. Putin teases possible business deals with Trump First, there were joint hockey games. Then, there were films promoting 'traditional values.' And at their Alaska summit Putin made another enticement: potential economic investments. 'It is clear that the U.S. and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential," Putin said. "Russia and the U.S. can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high tech and in space exploration. We see that arctic cooperation is also very possible.' Accompanying Putin at the summit was Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. The Putin adviser met with Witkoff in Washington in April. 'He's bringing a lot of business people from Russia. And that's good, I like that, because they want to do business,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to Alaska. 'But they're not doing business until we get the war settled.' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick came with Trump. Trump later referred to "tremendous Russian business representatives" at the summit and said "everybody wants to deal with us." In his Hannity interview, Trump indicated that Putin also tried to flatter him by saying the 2020 election he lost to Biden was 'rigged' and fanned baseless claims that the outcome was the result of widespread voter fraud. Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin Putin received a warm reception in Alaska after years of being left out in the cold by western leaders. The summit began with Trump giving Putin an outreached hand, as the Russian leader walked down an intersecting red carpet on the tarmac to greet him. Trump clapped his hands in applause as Putin approached. They shook hands, patted each others' arms and walked together, posing for pictures on a platform with a sign reading 'Alaska 2025.' In the background: Military planes and personnel and green cloud-covered mountains. A reporter shouted "President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?" while Putin stood next to Trump on the platform. He gestured but didn't say anything. Trump and Putin rode together, without aides, to the summit in Trump's limousine. Gone was the frustration that Trump had expressed throughout the summer over Putin's reluctance to agree on a peace deal. 'I've always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir,' Trump said of his Russian counterpart as they shared a stage together in Alaska. Now what? Severe consequences? Secondary Tariffs? Another meeting? The lack of progress at the Trump-Putin summit raised questions about what comes next. Trump said he planned to speak with Zelenskyy and NATO leaders to brief them. He again talked about moderating a three-way meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy. And although he'd warned before the meeting that if Putin wasn't cooperative he would face 'severe consequences' and threatened tariff hikes on Russia's top trading partners, for now, he said he was letting China off the hook. "Because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that,' Trump told Hannity. '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 the meeting went very well." Trump's next moves will be closely watched to see if he maintains the friendly posture toward Putin that he took at the summit or takes a firmer approach. 'By framing it as a positive meeting, in his own mind, it takes the pressure off of himself to make Russia pay a price for continuing the war,' former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said. 'At least for right now.' Trump told reporters before the meeting that he was 'not looking to waste a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money' negotiations and wanted to see the war quickly wrapped up. 'The wildcard now is whether Trump's actually going to get tough on Russia, or whether it's going to be in sort of endless talks and letting Russia stall for time,' said Salvo, managing director for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Takeaways: Donald Trump fails to reach peace deal with Vladimir Putin
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump tells Fox News that Zelensky has ‘got to make a deal' with Putin after Alaska summit
President Donald Trump insists Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has 'gotta make a deal' with Russian President Vladimir Putin following his Alaska summit with the Russian leader. After the nearly three-hour meeting between the two leaders, with no agreement having been reached on the future of the war in Ukraine, Trump appeared for an interview on Fox News' 'Hannity'. Host Sean Hannity asked what advice he would give to Zelensky and Trump replied: 'Make the deal. Gotta make a deal.' 'Russia's a very big power. And they're not,' Trump said, adding that the U.S. has supplied Ukraine with weaponry. Hours earlier, during a joint statement with Putin, where neither took questions, the U.S. president admitted that while 'great progress' had been made, he emphasized: 'There's no deal until there's a deal.' Trump noted that he planned to call Zelensky and NATO members following the meeting. On Fox News, Hannity asked Trump about next steps, alluding to the U.S. president's previous comments about a possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky. 'I don't know if I trust the two of them in a room alone together. I think it would be better if you are there,' the Fox News host suggested. Trump agreed: 'They both want me there, and I'll be there. You got to see it out.' What exactly was discussed in the high stakes meeting and what was agreed remains a mystery. Both Putin and Trump used vague terms to describe the meeting and refused to take questions from reporters. Still, both men flattered one another in front of the world's cameras. The Russian president called the United States a 'dear neighbor.' He also repeated one of Trump's claims: the war in Ukraine would not have started if Trump had remained in office after the 2020 election. Trump touted his 'fantastic relationship' with his Russian counterpart and branded the meeting 'extremely productive.' The U.S. president continued laying on the praise for Putin during his interview with Hannity. 'I think we've agreed on a lot, and I can tell you, the meeting was a very warm meeting,' he said. Referring to Putin, he continued: 'He's a strong guy, he's tough as hell and all of that, but the meeting was a very warm meeting between two very important countries, and it's very good when they get along.' Earlier in the day, Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin, greeting him warmly before they jumped into his U.S. limousine, dubbed 'The Beast.' At the end of their joint speech to press Putin suggested the pair next meet on his home turf: Moscow. 'That's an interesting one, I'll get a little heat on that one,' Trump replied. 'But I could see it possibly happening.' Following the summit, some pundits slammed Trump's performance. A Fox News host said he was 'steamrolled' by Putin while former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Trump's warm welcome of the Russian leader dealt a 'big victory' for Putin. Despite the flack, Trump told Hannity he believed on a scale of one to 10, the meeting was a 10. 'It's good when two big powers get along, especially when they're nuclear powers. We're number one, they're number two in the world. And it's a big deal. That's a big deal,' the U.S. president said.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says no imminent plans to penalize China for buying Russian oil
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to "in two or three weeks." Trump 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 the top two buyers of Russian oil. The president last week imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing its continued imports of Russian oil. However, Trump has not taken similar action against China. He was asked by Fox News' Sean Hannity if he was now considering such action against Beijing after he and Russian President Vladimir 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," Trump said after his summit with Putin in Alaska. "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." Chinese President Xi Jinping's slowing economy will suffer if Trump follows through on a promise to ramp up Russia-related sanctions and tariffs. Xi and Trump are working 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. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data