Witkoff Meets Putin in Moscow

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Top of the Agenda

White House envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, the day after U.S. President Donald Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The high-profile conversations followed Trump’s warning that Moscow will face new financial penalties if it does not agree to end the war by Friday. Zelenskyy said the two leaders discussed potential new U.S. sanctions on Russia which, if implemented, would be the first time the Trump administration sanctioned Russia since taking office.

The latest. 

• Witkoff did not immediately comment after his talks with Putin. It was his fifth meeting with Putin this year. Ahead of the visit, a Kremlin spokesperson said it generally considers interactions with Witkoff important and substantive.
• Zelenskyy said he and Trump discussed Russia’s intensifying attacks on Ukraine. More civilians were killed in Ukraine in June than in any month over the last three years, the United Nations said, and the pattern appears to have continued in July.
• Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden yesterday announced $1 billion in U.S. weapons purchases to support Ukraine. 
• Unnamed sources told the Financial Times that Trump was considering sanctioning ships that move Russian oil. A White House spokesperson said there will be “biting sanctions if Putin does not agree to end the war,” without commenting on specifics.

The backdrop.

• U.S. Senate Democrats released a report yesterday that argues Trump’s neglect of sanctions allowed Moscow to boost its military and extend the war.
• Trump’s pause in advancing sanctions on Russia during the first six months of his term was a shift from the Biden administration’s sanctioning of hundreds of targets. Those penalties included asset freezes, export bans, and international deals aiming to limit the price of Russian oil.

“Europeans should keep up the pressure and signal to Trump that any diplomatic overture by Putin is likely another delaying tactic, and should be met by more support for Ukraine...The Europeans must not only lobby for ad hoc sales, but ideally conclude a long-term agreement wherein Europe regularly purchases the most important U.S. weapons for Ukraine.”

—CFR expert Liana Fix, Die Zeit 

Across the Globe

Bangladesh elections. The country’s interim government will hold elections next February, its interim leader Mohammad Yunus said. The announcement came one year after a student-led protest movement ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Yunus also read a declaration affirming some of the protester demands regarding transparency and democratic reforms. 

Falling U.S. deficit. The country’s trade deficit fell in June to its lowest monthly level since September 2023. Also in June, the U.S. goods trade deficit with China was at its lowest in more than twenty-one years. The numbers reflect how countries are reorienting trade in the wake of Trump’s tariffs.

U.S.-Rwanda migrant deal. Rwanda will accept 250 deported migrants from the United States, a Rwandan government spokesperson said. She did not provide a timeline or details of a wider deal that she said Rwanda was establishing the United States. Eswatini and South Sudan have also accepted deportees from the United States who are nationals of other countries.

Turkish investment in Syria. Turkey plans to fund industrial zones in Syria to aid the country’s economic recovery, a top Turkish economic official said. Such zones would group together small and medium-sized businesses. Trade between the countries during the first part of 2025 is on track to surpass total trade last year before the fall of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December.

Norway’s investment review. Norway’s finance minister ordered the country’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund to review its holdings in Israeli companies due to the “worsened situation” in Gaza and the West Bank. Norway’s prime minister said yesterday he was “very concerned” about a local news report that the fund recently increased investments in a company that makes airplane parts used by Israel in bombings.

China-South Korea travel thaw. Chinese tourists will be able to travel to South Korea without a visa from September 29 until the end of June 2026 as part of a pilot program, Seoul announced today. Last November, China announced permission for South Korean tourists to stay for fifteen days without a visa in a program that runs to the end of this year. The travel permissions underscore a relaxation in political tensions.

Taiwan trade secrets probe. Law enforcement authorities detained three current and former employees of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as part of an investigation into allegedly stealing trade secrets. It is the first such probe since Taiwan’s 2022 enhancement of a national security law to guard its strategic technologies.

Canada-Mexico talks. The two countries will increase cooperation on areas including trade, energy security, and artificial intelligence, Canada’s foreign minister said yesterday after a meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Both countries are part of a trilateral trade pact with the United States but face heightened U.S. tariffs; Mexico recently received a tariff pause.

What’s Next

• Today, Switzerland’s president is expected to meet with U.S. officials in Washington.
• Today, Karol Nawrocki is sworn in as Poland’s president.
• Tomorrow, higher U.S. tariff rates are due to take effect on several trade partners.