- Trump ordered higher tariffs on Indian goods due to India's Russian oil purchases
- Tariffs on Indian products rose to 50 percent, one of the highest on any US partner
- Trump suggested losing major customers like India influenced Putin's decision to meet
In an interview with Fox News Radio, US President Donald Trump said that the secondary tariffs against India may have influenced Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him. "Everything has an impact," he added, saying that secondary tariffs against India "essentially took them out of buying oil from Russia."
Earlier this month, Trump ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. This takes the level to 50 percent for many products - among the highest on any American trading partner.
Trump further implied that the tariffs on India "probably" had a role in Putin agreeing to meet. "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," he said.
While India has emerged as a key partner for Washington in its strategic rivalry with China in recent years, its large US trade surplus and close relations with Russia-- which Trump was seeking to pressure into agreeing to a peace agreement with Ukraine-- have made New Delhi a prime target in the Republican president's global tariff offensive.
New Delhi called the tariffs "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable," vowing to "take all actions necessary to protect its national interests."
Answering if he would provide "economic incentives" to Russia in order to stop fighting in Ukraine, he said that he would not "want to play my hand in public".
Trump repeatedly stressed on the fact that he was primarily interested in an "immediate peace deal" and that if the meeting amounts to something, he said he would immediately call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "get him over to wherever we are going to meet."
He said the main goal of the Alaska summit was to set up a second meeting - with Zelenskyy - to make a deal, comparing it to "a chess game." He also mentioned that he stopped six wars this year. "[Ukraine] was going to be one of my easy ones - but it turned out the most difficult. I inherited it from Joe Biden", he added.
Trump will host Putin at talks in Alaska on Friday that the US president has said will serve as a "feel-out" meeting in his efforts to end the Russo-Ukraine war. Trump agreed last week to the first US-Russia summit since 2021, abruptly shifting course after weeks of voicing frustration with Putin for resisting the US peace initiative.
The unpredictability of how the summit will play out has fuelled European fears that the US and Russian leaders could take far-reaching decisions and even seek to coerce Ukraine into an unfavourable deal.
