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Trade between Russia and the United States has started to grow under Donald Trump’s presidency, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday after meeting his counterpart in Alaska.
“When the new administration came to power, the bilateral trade started to grow. It’s still very symbolic. Still, we have a growth of 20 per cent. We have a lot of dimensions for joint work. Russia and the US can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high tech, and space exploration," Putin told reporters.
The modest upward tick comes after a decade of steep decline that followed Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. The conflict triggered sweeping Western sanctions, and as the war escalated into a full-scale invasion, turnover between the two nations fell to negligible levels.
Trump pushes Ukraine toward deal
Trump on Saturday urged Ukraine to strike a deal to end the war with Russia, remarking that "Russia is a very big power, and they're not," after hosting a summit with Putin that failed to deliver a ceasefire, foreign media reported.
In a notable shift, Trump said he and Putin agreed that negotiators should move directly toward a peace settlement, bypassing the interim ceasefire that Kyiv and its European allies had long demanded with US support.
Putin highlights ‘symbolical’ progress
Speaking to reporters after his first US visit in a decade, Putin described the 20 per cent trade rise as “symbolical” but promising. “I would say that we have lots of promising areas for joint work,” he added.
“I noticed [Putin’s] bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that’s good. I like that, because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war solved,” Trump had earlier told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Putin later reiterated that “Russia-US business and investment cooperation clearly has a lot of potential,” listing energy, high technology, digital industry, and space exploration as areas of mutual interest.
India welcomes Trump-Putin dialogue
Meanwhile, India on Saturday welcomed the Alaska summit, commending the leaders’ commitment to diplomacy.
"India appreciates the progress made in the Summit. The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, calling the leadership of Trump and Putin “highly commendable.”
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