logo
Kremlin says a Putin-Trump meeting is essential but needs advance preparation and must yield results

Kremlin says a Putin-Trump meeting is essential but needs advance preparation and must yield results

The Hindu16-05-2025
The Kremlin said on Friday (May 16, 2025) that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump was essential but required considerable advance preparation and had to yield results when it happened.
Also Read | Trump downplays Putin's decision to skip Istanbul peace talks with Zelenskyy
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was commenting after Mr. Trump said he would meet Mr. Putin "as soon as we can set it up".
"...Such a meeting is certainly necessary. It is necessary both primarily from the point of view of bilateral Russian-U.S. relations and from the point of view of having a serious conversation at the highest level about international affairs and on regional problems, including, of course, about the crisis over Ukraine," Mr. Peskov said.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were in Istanbul on Friday (May 15, 2025) for what was billed as their first direct peace talks in more than three years, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two.
Commenting on the Istanbul talks, Mr. Peskov said that the Russian negotiating team was in constant communication with Moscow and that President Putin was receiving real-time updates.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

No Entry For GM Crops, Says New Delhi; India-US Trade Talks Hit A Sacred Wall
No Entry For GM Crops, Says New Delhi; India-US Trade Talks Hit A Sacred Wall

India.com

time6 minutes ago

  • India.com

No Entry For GM Crops, Says New Delhi; India-US Trade Talks Hit A Sacred Wall

New Delhi: Genetically modified (GM) crops will not be crossing India's borders anytime soon, no matter how urgently the United States knocks. As trade negotiations between New Delhi and Washington enter a crucial phase, insiders say one red line is not up for discussion. 'There are things that are not about negotiation. Some things are a matter of principle,' said a senior official close to the development. That principle, sources say, is GM corn and soy. While American negotiators have made agricultural access a central demand, pressing India for a wider entry gate for U.S. farm goods, New Delhi is not blinking, especially on GM imports. Over the years, the issue has mutated from a mere trade disagreement into a symbolic fight over sovereignty, food safety and grassroots politics. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has repeatedly flagged India's restrictions on GM products, calling them 'non-tariff barriers'. But Indian authorities remain unmoved, largely because of the hardline stance taken by domestic groups closely aligned with the ruling establishment. Last month, the message from Sangh affiliates was if America insists on forcing GM crops into the Indian market, there may be no trade deal at all. Carried in Business Standard, that warning echoed the sentiments of influential groups such as the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which have long opposed agricultural concessions to Washington, particularly in sectors like dairy and GM crops. Their argument? Food security. The BKS has often warned that allowing U.S. crops into India, especially without clear labelling or transparency, could sabotage domestic farming ecosystems and compromise health safety standards. On the other hand, the SJM sees this as a direct attack on economic self-reliance. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. U.S. officials have privately hinted at the urgency of the moment, pointing to a deadline set by President Donald Trump, who is seeking a revival of his trade agenda. Trump has marked August 1 as a red-letter day. If no interim deal is inked by then, India could be hit with reciprocal tariffs, potentially as high as 26 percent. Indian trade negotiators are not indifferent to that pressure. But according to officials involved in the process, the sixth round of talks will only happen in the second half of August after Trump's deadline expires. Any hope for a short-term resolution seems, at best, unrealistic. As one official put it, 'We are not looking at compromise in areas that touch the lives of millions.' In other words, GM corn is off the table. And perhaps, so is the deal, at least for now.

Trump on Gaza talks collapse and Hamas hostage standoff: ‘I know what I'd do... but Israel is going to make a decision'
Trump on Gaza talks collapse and Hamas hostage standoff: ‘I know what I'd do... but Israel is going to make a decision'

Mint

time6 minutes ago

  • Mint

Trump on Gaza talks collapse and Hamas hostage standoff: ‘I know what I'd do... but Israel is going to make a decision'

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Israel is now facing a critical moment as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas have broken down. He emphasised that the Israeli government will soon have to 'make a decision' on how to proceed in Gaza. 'They [Hamas] don't want to give [the hostages] back,' Trump told reporters in Scotland. 'And so Israel is going to have to make a decision.' Trump added: 'I know what I'd do, but I don't think it's appropriate that I say. But Israel is going to make a decision.' The President also highlighted ongoing US aid efforts to Gaza, lamenting the lack of international recognition. 'We gave $60 million two weeks ago for food, for Gaza,' Trump said. 'And nobody acknowledged it, nobody talks about it. It makes you feel a little bad when you do that, and you have other countries not giving anything.' Trump said some of his own supporters criticised him for providing aid to Palestinians, but he defended the move. 'There is a humanitarian reason for doing it,' he said. 'Will I do more aid? Yeah. The US is going to do more aid for Gaza but we would like to have other countries participate.' Trump claimed that without American assistance, conditions in Gaza would have deteriorated further. 'If we weren't there, I think people would have starved, frankly,' he said. 'They would have starved and it's not like they're eating well.' Trump called on other nations to contribute to humanitarian efforts in Gaza and expressed frustration at the lack of acknowledgment from the international community. 'It would be nice to at least have a 'thank you,'' he said. Trump's comments come as Israel faces growing criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Over the weekend, Israel approved humanitarian airdrops and announced plans to establish corridors for United Nations convoys to distribute supplies. Earlier ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas collapsed last week, leaving the future of hostages and regional stability uncertain.

U.S EU Trade deal: Who wins after tariff agreement - Donald Trump or Europe?
U.S EU Trade deal: Who wins after tariff agreement - Donald Trump or Europe?

Economic Times

time36 minutes ago

  • Economic Times

U.S EU Trade deal: Who wins after tariff agreement - Donald Trump or Europe?

Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads FAQs U.S EU Trade deal agreement has finally been chalked. In the end, Europe found it lacked the leverage to pull Donald Trump 's America into a trade pact on its terms and so has signed up to a deal it can just about stomach - albeit one that is clearly skewed in the U.S.'s favour. As such, Sunday's agreement on a blanket 15 per cent tariff after a months-long stand-off is a reality check on the aspirations of the 27-country European Union to become an economic power able to stand up to the likes of the United States or has long portrayed itself as an export superpower and champion of rules-based commerce for the benefit both of its own soft power and the global economy as a whole. For sure, the new tariff that will now be applied is a lot more digestible than the 30% "reciprocal" tariff which Trump threatened to invoke in a few it should ensure Europe avoids recession, it will likely keep its economy in the doldrums: it sits somewhere between two tariff scenarios the European Central Bank last month forecast would mean 0.5-0.9 per cent economic growth this year compared to just over 1% in a trade tension-free this is nonetheless a landing point that would have been scarcely imaginable only months ago in the pre-Trump 2.0 era, when the EU along with much of the world could count on U.S. tariffs averaging out at around 1.5%.Even when Britain agreed a baseline tariff of 10% with the United States back in May, EU officials were adamant they could do better and - convinced the bloc had the economic heft to square up to Trump - pushed for a "zero-for-zero" tariff took a few weeks of fruitless talks with their U.S. counterparts for the Europeans to accept that 10% was the best they could get and a few weeks more to take the same 15% baseline which the United States agreed with Japan last week."The EU does not have more leverage than the U.S., and the Trump administration is not rushing things," said one senior official in a European capital who was being briefed on last week's negotiations as they closed in around the 15% official and others pointed to the pressure from Europe's export-oriented businesses to clinch a deal and so ease the levels of uncertainty starting to hit businesses from Finland's Nokia to Swedish steelmaker SSAB ."We were dealt a bad hand. This deal is the best possible play under the circumstances," said one EU diplomat. "Recent months have clearly shown how damaging uncertainty in global trade is for European businesses."That imbalance - or what the trade negotiators have been calling "asymmetry" - is manifest in the final only is it expected that the EU will now call off any retaliation and remain open to U.S. goods on existing terms, but it has also pledged $600 billion of investment in the United States. The time-frame for that remains undefined, as do other details of the accord for talks unfolded, it became clear that the EU came to the conclusion it had more to lose from all-out retaliatory measures it threatened totalled some 93 billion euros - less than half its U.S. goods trade surplus of nearly 200 billion a growing number of EU capitals were also ready to envisage wide-ranging anti-coercion measures that would have allowed the bloc to target the services trade in which the United States had a surplus of some $75 billion last even then, there was no clear majority for targeting the U.S. digital services which European citizens enjoy and for which there are scant homegrown alternatives - from Netflix to Uber to Microsoft cloud remains to be seen whether this will encourage European leaders to accelerate the economic reforms and diversification of trading allies to which they have long paid lip service but which have been held back by national the deal as a painful compromise that was an "existential threat" for many of its members, Germany's BGA wholesale and export association said it was time for Europe to reduce its reliance on its biggest trading partner."Let's look on the past months as a wake-up call," said BGA President Dirk Jandura. "Europe must now prepare itself strategically for the future - we need new trade deals with the biggest industrial powers of the world."A1. President of USA is Donald Trump.A2. US is levying 15 per cent tariffs on Europe.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store