RBC with the note.
As anticipated, the Anchorage meeting between President Trump and Putin yielded no serious deal specifics but plenty of smiles and positive sound bites signaling diplomatic progress. Ahead of Friday, we noted that the prospects of meaningful sanctions relief stemming from this summit were minimal, due in large part to the fact that the EU has enacted the bulk of punitive measures targeting Russian energy since the start of the war.
What was primarily in play were the secondary tariffs targeting the key importers of Russian energy, and President Trump has indeed indicated that he will pause pursuing incremental action on this front, at least for China. On Friday, President Trump stated that such measures were not immediately necessary, though he added he may revisit the decision “in two or three weeks.” A number of commentators had suggested that President Trump was using the Russian energy issue to gain leverage going into negotiations with New Delhi, as he has lately pushed for greater access for American agricultural exports in the country. However, at the time of writing, this visit, which was originally scheduled for late August, is seemingly being deferred amidst growing frictions.
