Trump-Putin summit: 5 big takeaways from Alaska meet for India, other Russian oil buyers

The meeting drew global attention — from Washington and Moscow to Europe, Ukraine, and even New Delhi because its outcome could determine whether India faces steeper US tariffs on key imports, including Russian oil.

In the last few weeks, Donald Trump hit India with a 50 per cent tariff rate — much higher than the regional peers. The tariff bombs could hurt exports and put nearly 1 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product at risk, analysts said. Washington has already imposed a 25 per cent penalty on India’s crude purchases from Moscow.

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Here are key takeaways from Trump-Putin Alaska summit:

1. ‘No deal until there’s a deal’: Trump conceded that “we haven’t quite got there” and said he would be conferring with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO leaders about next steps. Trump said he and Putin had made some significant progress toward the goal of ending the conflict but gave no details on what that entailed and had to acknowledge that they had been unable to bridge substantial gaps. “I believe we had a very productive meeting,” Trump said. “We haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway. So, there’s no deal until there’s a deal.” In a subsequent conversation with Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, Trump again offered no details on his discussions with Putin.
2. Hold off on imposing tariffs? Following the summit, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he would hold off on imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil after making progress with Putin. He did not mention India, another major buyer of Russian crude, which has been slapped with a total 50 per cent tariff on US imports that includes a 25 per cent penalty for the imports from Russia. “Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump said of Chinese tariffs. “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.”
3. Putin praises Trump: The Russian president praised his US counterpart for the “friendly” tone of the talks — Trump said nothing publicly about the killing of Ukrainian civilians in Moscow’s attacks — and for “understanding that Russia has its own national interests”.
4. No details and no questions: Both Tump and Putin said the talks were “productive” but the lack of any announcement of solid achievements was revealing. The news conference ended up being less than 15 minutes of rather standard diplomatic comments — and gave no indication that any concrete results were achieved — and offered little departure from their previous comments on the war in Ukraine.
5. Trump open to trilateral meeting: In the Fox News interview, Trump also suggested a meeting would now be set up between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he might also attend. He gave no further details on who was organising the meeting or when it might be. Putin made no mention of meeting Zelensky when speaking to reporters earlier. He said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to accept the results of the US-Russia negotiation constructively and not try to “disrupt the emerging progress.” There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the summit, the first meeting between Putin and a US president since the war began.

(With inputs from agencies)