No accord at Alaska; US Prez signals he may not levy secondary tariffs on India

The world seems to have released half a sigh of relief as the Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ended with neither a peace agreement, a stalemate or a walkout — but a postponement to the next step with Trump now meeting Putin’s bete noire, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, back in Washington DC on Monday.

The carefully orchestrated meetings between the three parties yielded an equally cautious response from New Delhi, among the nations most hurt by Trump’s tariffs, because of its continuing insistence to buy cheap oil from Moscow even as Trump hinted at not levying secondary tariffs on India for now. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the Trump-Putin meeting as “commendable”.

In a statement, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “India welcomes the summit meeting in Alaska (between Trump and Putin). Their leadership in the pursuit of peace is highly commendable.”

Trump took to social media platform “Truth Social” to say: “A great and very successful day in Alaska! The meeting with Putin went very well.”

He called up Zelenskyy, several European leaders, including the Secretary-General of NATO, and said, “It was determined by all that the best way to end this horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly for a peace agreement, which will end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which often does not hold up.”

Trump did not elaborate on his own comments to the US media, including to a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, only insisting that he was happy at the manner in which his meeting with Putin went. But he refused to say whether a deal had been reached or not.

He hinted at a future meeting with Putin saying, “If all works out, we will schedule a meeting with President Putin”. In Alaska, Putin described the meeting with Trump as the starting point for a resolution, and suggested that their next meeting should be in Moscow.

New Delhi is facing 50 per cent US tariffs on exports, half of which stem from US-imposed punitive measures for buying Russian crude oil. While 25 per cent tariffs were imposed earlier, the remaining 25 per cent are set to kick in on August 27. The India-US bilateral trade negotiations are held up as the Modi-led government did not agree on allowing market access to US companies in agriculture and dairy.

A footnote from Alaska which can be read positively in New Delhi is the postponement of an immediate threat of fresh secondary sanctions. Trump said, “If I did secondary sanctions now, it would be devastating for them (Russia)… I may have to think about it (sanctions) in two or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that immediately.”

Days ahead of the Alaska summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned of more tariffs if no peace deal emerged.

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which began in 2022, India has become a major buyer of Russian crude, a move the US and its European allies describe as “India’s funding of Russia’s war”. The US targeted India — the second largest buyer of Russian crude — with punitive tariffs, hoping it would stop Moscow’s revenues.

New Delhi says its crude oil imports from Russia are based on market factors and are done with the objective of ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people.

The MEA, on August 4, had cited how several other countries, including the US, were importing various goods from Russia. “The US continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals,” the MEA had said.

This got a boost on Friday when Putin, at a joint press statement with Trump, said, “Incidentally, when the new administration (Trump) came to power, bilateral trade started to grow. It’s still very symbolic. Still, we have a growth of 20 per cent.”

India has stood by Russia. Last week, Modi and Putin spoke and committed themselves to deepening ties. Modi had posted on X saying, “Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. We reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia special and privileged strategic partnership.”