US President Donald Trump looks on next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
KEVIN LAMARQUE
US President Donald Trump said he will hold off on raising tariffs on Chinese goods over the country’s purchases of Russian oil, citing progress he said was made with Vladimir Putin toward ending the war in Ukraine.
“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that,” Trump said Friday in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity after his summit with Putin. “Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”
Trump earlier this month threatened buyers of Russian energy with additional tariffs as a means of pressuring Putin into peace talks with Ukraine. The US president already doubled duties on Indian products to 50 per cent starting August 27 over its purchases of oil from Moscow.
Raising tariffs on China, though, would risk breaking a trade truce that Trump on Monday agreed to extend for another 90 days. That agreement saw Washington and Beijing lower duties on each others’ goods that reached astronomical levels in the spring, which spooked global markets.
China has defended its imports of Russian oil as lawful and necessary for its energy security.
Trump fell short of reaching a ceasefire deal with Putin during their meeting in Alaska, but said they agreed on many points and urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to make a deal with the leader who launched an unprovoked invasion of his country in 2022.
“I think, you know, the meeting went very well,” Trump said on Fox News.
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Published on August 16, 2025
