Steep tariffs on India took them out of buying Russian oil, pushed Putin to negotiating table: US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump has suggested that his decision to impose steep tariffs on India may have played a role in bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

“Everything has an impact,” he said in an interview with foreign media when asked if the move influenced Putin’s decision to meet him. Trump added that “secondary tariffs against India essentially took them out of buying oil from Russia.”

He went on to say, “Certainly, when you lose your second largest customer and you’re probably going to lose your first largest customer, I think that probably has a role.”

Also Read:Trump, Putin Alaska Meet: Stakes high as Ukraine war, European security hang in balance

Earlier this month, Trump ordered higher tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil, raising the rate to 50 percent for many products among the highest imposed on any American trading partner.

While India has become an important US partner in countering China, its large trade surplus with Washington and close ties with Moscow which Trump has been pressuring into a Ukraine peace agreement--have made it a key target in his global tariff drive. 

Also Read:America's 50% levy on New Delhi dealt ‘big blow’ to Moscow: Trump ahead of Alaska meeting with Putin

New Delhi’s commitment to national interests 

New Delhi has called the tariffs “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” vowing to “take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.”

When asked if he would offer “economic incentives” to Russia to halt the war in Ukraine, Trump said he would not “want to play my hand in public.” He emphasised that he was focused on an “immediate peace deal” and, if progress is made, he would “immediately call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to get him over to wherever we are going to meet.”

Also Read:Ahead of Alaska talks, Trump slams Zelenskyy's resistance to 'land swap' with Russia   

Trump-Putin Alaska meet

Trump described the Alaska summit as a first step, saying its main goal was to arrange a follow-up meeting with Zelenskyy to finalise an agreement, likening it to “a chess game.” He also claimed that he had “stopped six wars this year,” adding, “[Ukraine] was going to be one of my easy ones but it turned out the most difficult. I inherited it from Joe Biden.”

“I believe now he’s [Putin] convinced that he’s going to make a deal,” Trump said. “He’s going to make a deal, I think he’s going to. And we’re going to find out, I’m going to know very quickly.”

The US president will host Putin in Alaska on Friday in what he has called a “feel-out” meeting aimed at ending the Russia Ukraine war. The talks will mark the first US Russia summit since 2021, with Trump agreeing to them last week after weeks of voicing frustration at Putin’s resistance to a US backed peace plan.