India hails Trump-Putin Alaska summit as tariffs threat recedes

India has welcomed the high-stakes Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling their engagement “commendable” and the progress made “encouraging.” The statement came even as Trump hinted the United States may hold off on imposing secondary tariffs on countries still importing Russian crude — a move that would have directly impacted India.

For New Delhi, which is already facing a punitive 50% duty on its exports to the US — including a 25% “penalty” tied to its Russian oil purchases — the signals from Washington brought a measure of relief. South Block tracked the meeting closely, aware that an escalation could have sharply increased costs for India.

Speaking to Fox News aboard Air Force One before landing in Alaska, Trump suggested his tariff strategy had forced Moscow to the table. “He [Putin] lost an oil client, which was India, doing about 40 per cent of the oil. If I did what’s called a secondary sanction, it would be very devastating… If I have to do it, I’ll do it. Maybe I won’t have to do it,” Trump said.

After the talks, India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a carefully worded statement. “Their leadership in the pursuit of peace is highly commendable… India appreciates the progress made. The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

Trump also briefed European leaders including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy later called External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to update him on Ukraine discussions — an outreach Jaishankar publicly acknowledged.

While the summit produced no breakthrough, both Trump and Putin called it “productive,” with the Russian president noting that agreements reached could serve as a “starting point” toward resolving the Ukraine crisis. “We haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway… There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump admitted.

For India, even that modest headway matters. With Europe and Washington on edge, New Delhi will continue intensive backchannel diplomacy — reaching out to Moscow, Washington, and European capitals — to secure both its energy needs and its strategic space.