President Donald Trump plans on playing business deal hardball with Russian President Vladimir Putin until the Kremlin ends its war with Ukraine. Trump told reporters Friday morning that Putin wants in on the U.S. economy, but that is dependent on the peace progress the two powers make at today’s summit in Anchorage, Alaska.
“I noticed he’s bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that’s good,” Trump said. “I like that because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war settled.”
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The Kremlin’s summit delegation includes special envoy and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, Defense Minister and former Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and presidential aide and former Ambassador to the United States Yuri Ushakov.
Trump said he would discuss business with the Russian delegation if things go well, as he thinks Putin is “interested in the Trump economy.”
“If we make progress, I’d like to discuss it because that’s one of the things that they would like,” Trump said. “They’d like to get a piece of what I’ve built in terms of the economy.”
The U.S. delegation to Friday’s peace summit will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff; White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; deputy chiefs of staff James Blair, Beau Harrison, Nick Luna, and Dan Scavino; White House communications director Steven Cheung; deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel; White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt; White House staff eecretary Will Scharf; White House director of speechwriting Ross Worthington; and chief of protocol Monica Crowley.
Trump and Putin are also expected to have a one-on-one meeting with translators present.
“We get along,” Trump told reporters Friday morning. “There’s a good respect level on both sides. I think something’s going to come of it.”
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Trump said that if he does not make any progress with Putin toward peace between Russia and Ukraine, Russia will face “very severe” economic consequences. He also told reporters that he and Putin would discuss territorial swaps at the summit, which would open the door for Russia to keep some, but not necessarily all, of the Ukrainian territory it has seized.
“They’ll be discussed, but I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision, I think they’ll make a proper decision,” Trump said. “Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn’t president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine. But he’s not gonna do it.”