Prior to a Friday summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump expressed his optimism about returning to normal trade relations, saying he would know within the first two minutes of the meeting if a deal was possible.
Mr. Trump made those remarks at a White House briefing on Monday.
When asked if he sees a time when there could be normal trade between the US and Russia, Trump said, "I do. Russia has a very valuable piece of land. If Vladimir Putin went toward business instead of toward war, you know, it's a warring nation. That's what they do. They fight a lot of wars. A friend of mine said Russia is tough because they just keep on fighting."
"We're going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin. And at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made," he added.
Further, Trump expressed optimism about the meeting and said, "I'd like to see a ceasefire. I'd like to see the best deal that could be made for both parties."
Trump linked Russia’s economic struggles to the ongoing conflict, emphasizing that Washington’s 50 per cent tariff on nations purchasing Russian oil had dealt a major blow.
"Their economy is not doing well right now because it's been very well disturbed by this. It doesn't help when the President of the United States tells their largest or second-largest oil buyer that we're putting a 50 per cent tariff on you if you buy oil from Russia. That was a big blow."
Trump claimed he was prepared to take further action, but received a call from Putin. "I haven't stopped there. I mean, look, I was all set to do things far bigger than that. But I got a call that they'd like to meet, and I'm going to see what they want to meet about."
Trump described the meeting with Russia as a "big deal".
"I'll be calling the European leaders. They're tired of it (the Russia-Ukraine war). They want to get back to spending money on their countries. They want to get back to building their own countries. They want it resolved."
"There are a lot of European leaders, and they rely on me very much. If it weren't for me, this thing would never get solved until the last person breathing is dead. It's going to be a good meeting, and we'll go a step further. We'll get it done. I'd like to see a ceasefire very, very quickly. I'd like to see it immediately," he added.
The US President also expressed his views on the Ukraine conflict, stating, "This war wouldn't have happened if I were president. This is Joe Biden's war. This is not my war." He plans to urge Putin to end the war, saying, "So I'm going in to speak to Vladimir Putin. And I'm going to be telling him, you've got to end this war. And he wasn't going to mess with me."
"The next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin, or Zelensky and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need me, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders," he added.
Trump stated that he is seeing Putin in order to see what the terms of a peace agreement could be prior to his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.
"I'm going to meet with President Putin and we're going to see what he has in mind, and if it's a fair deal, I'll reveal it to the European Union leaders and the NATO leaders and also to President Zelensky," Trump said, noting that he'll call Zelensky first "out of respect."
