Trump-Putin's Friday meeting did not bring a breakthrough in the matter of Ukraine, but a form of truce is on the table. European leaders will talk about further steps in Washington. The media is dominated by the narrative that the US president is counting on a peaceful Nobel Prize – that's why he wants to attach the conditions of the truce as soon as possible. It is very possible that something is there – but Trump is also an entrepreneur whose approach to politics is considered extremely transactional. It is therefore highly likely that this economic “dealers” are more important in his game with Putin than a truce in Ukraine. So what's on the table?
Already as an entrepreneur Donald Trump he really wanted to do business in Russia. It didn't work out – for example, he never managed to build a Trump Tower skyscraper in Moscow, although it is known that numerous conversations were taking place on this subject. Will it come out different now?
Reuters indicated that the location of the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska may not be accidental. The agency's information shows that the US president wants to develop LNG gas from Alaska. Meanwhile, the Russians have the only world with a large fleet of atomic icebreakers that play a key role in maintaining sailing in the Arctic. Such cooperation of the USA and Russia could help in transporting liquefied gas – which in turn would make it easier to sell in the Far East. Details of possible cooperation are not clear here – the White House did not answer Reuters to questions in this matter.
Will Russia agree to cooperate with the US in this area? The case can be complicated, because in the assumption of gas from Alaska would be an alternative to … gas from Russia for Far Eastern customers.
What about raw materials for Europe?
The old continent has been addicted to Russian raw materials for years – primarily on oil and gas. After 2022, however, there was a dramatic change and European countries began to turn away from supplies from Russia. Many unofficial reports show that US and Russia talks concern some forms of abolition of European sanctions to raw materials from Putin's country. But not only – the states probably want to be something like a broker of such supplies. Americans would probably like to control the pipelines that Russian gas would flow to Europe. Unofficially, there was even talk about raising in some form of Nord Stream pipelines – such information was given by “Bild” and “Financial Times”.
Such plans, of course, are awesome in European capitals – they would mean not only a return to trade with Moscow, but also more and more addiction to Washington. On the other hand – it is no secret that in Europe a lot of environments would like to return to Russian raw materials. Above all, he would like this large German industry, which is in a difficult situation after cutting off cheap gas from Russia.
At this point, it is difficult to say at what stage talks between the USA and Russia about raw materials for Europe. It is very likely, however, that if you manage to negotiate a truce in Ukraine, an element of the contract will be some abolition of sanctions for Russia. And such an agreement will definitely give the Americans to the pursuit of some of its interests here.
In addition, the US and Russia would gladly return to trade among themselves. A few months ago, Vladimir Putin publicly declared his readiness to trade aluminum with the USA and rare lands. It can be assumed that this was also about the conversation of leaders in Alaska. Quite a lot of American companies that withdrew from Russia after 2022, would also like to go back there quickly.
The rest of the article is under video material
Russia in a geopolitical puzzle
Russia is no longer the main playmaker on the world stage. But the role of the states is falling – China or India are more and more powerful. Talks of the US and Russia certainly also concern geopolitics. At the beginning of the current term of office, Donald Trump tried to pull Russia a bit from China. It did not succeed. On the other hand, the Russia-China alliance arouses a growing threat to world order in the eyes of the USA. Recently, Alexus Grynkewich – one of the leading American generals – said publicly that already in 2027 a large world conflict could occur. In this scenario, China can attack Taiwan at this time, coordinating their movement with some Russian attack in Europe.
Certainly Donald Trump is aware of these threats. Recently, in an interview with Fox News, the US president said that the Chinese leader XI Jinping assured him that he would not attack Taiwan while Trump is in the White House. However, Trump did not hide that he wanted to talk to Russia about such scenarios.
There is also a war in the Middle East. Russia – as a close Iran ally – also has its cards here. So certainly Putin and Trump talked about it on Friday – and it probably wasn't their last conversation on this topic.
What will result from all this?
International media reported that the pictures from the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska caused terror in European capitals-for this reason, the leaders of the Old Continent countries organized their meeting in Washington so expressively. Putin was accepted extremely warmly in Alaska – Trump applauded him, accepted him on the red carpet and invited him to his car. In an interview with Fox News after the meeting, Trump said that there was no breakthrough. But he did not hide that he liked the things that Putin said. For example, that if in 2022 he was the president, not Joe Biden, then the full -scale war in Ukraine would not break out.
Vladimir Putin also noted that both countries are already felt by economic warming-he said that trade on the US-Russia line increased by 20 percent. From the moment Trump's return to the position of US president.
See also: Putin has two problems with the labor market. Record data cover the truth about companies
Europe does not believe that the American leader seems to trust Putin, who has cheated the West many times and is known for his countless manipulations. On the other hand, there is still a threat of US sanctions over Russia, and Americans sell a weapon that Kiev defends themselves against Moscow's aggression. So you can see that the US President runs his game with Russia – and wants all the rest of the Western world to set up in the second row. The question is whether the most important in this game is the truce in Ukraine – is it only the background to the more “business” games. There is another issue. Vladimir Putin clearly does not particularly care about peace in Ukraine – and is not ready for any serious concessions. The economic “dealers” between Russia and the US will therefore be very difficult to sell Donald Trump in this situation.
Author: Mateusz Madejski, Business Insider Polska journalist
