NYT: President Trump is doubling down on a different approach – offering enticements to Russia

Congress this week passed a landmark sanctions bill taking aim at Russia’s energy sector, a new attempt to pressure Mr. Putin to make compromises. But even as that bill makes its way to Mr. Trump’s desk, the Trump administration is doubling down on a different approach: offering benefits for Russia that officials hope will get Mr. Putin to consider ending his war, The New York Times writes.

Among the new inducements: the White House is now considering signing business deals with Russia before it stops fighting in Ukraine, according to two people close to the talks. The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to be candid about the negotiations, said that deals with Russia before the end of the war were possible because they would show that the United States is serious about a reset relationship with Russia.

The approach represents a shift from Mr. Trump’s pledge last year that business deals with Russia would not come “until we get the war settled.” It indicates that Mr. Trump’s envoys for ending the war, Steve Witkoff and Mr. Kushner, are groping for new ways to entice Russia to stop fighting, now that it has become clear that Ukraine will not withdraw from the swath of its own territory that Mr. Putin insists he must control before the war ends.

And it contrasts with the approach advocated by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress — not to mention Kyiv’s European allies and Ukraine itself — that only heightened economic and military pressure on Mr. Putin can compel him to compromise.

Mr. Trump has indicated he will sign the bill, which was championed by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, until his death in July. It would allow the president to levy tariffs of as much as 100 percent on countries buying the most Russian oil or gas and would impose sanctions on Russian officials, businesspeople and financial institutions. Senator Darline Graham, Mr. Graham’s sister who replaced him in his seat, said it would “increase the president’s negotiating leverage.”

But insofar as the Trump administration is pursuing a carrot-and-stick approach with Mr. Putin, carrots seem the focus. The U.S. official said that the administration wanted to create more incentives for members of the Russian elite to push for peace. Executing some business deals before the end of the war could help convince anti-American hawks around Mr. Putin that Mr. Trump really does want to create a new relationship with Russia, the official added.

Balazs Jarabik, a former European Union diplomat in Kyiv who now works at R. Politik, a political analysis firm, said signs pointed to the United States “considering bigger concessions toward Russia.”

Washington “is now signaling that some deals could move forward,” said Mr. Jarabik, who has been tracking the talks closely.

It was not clear what deals in particular are on the table. The Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said after Mr. Putin’s meeting with Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner on Sept. 5 that “economic issues and potential major mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail.”

The Kremlin has been promoting business opportunities to the White House ever since Mr. Trump returned to office last year. Russian officials have floated deals for rare earths and aluminum, joint ventures in the Arctic and even getting U.S. companies involved in selling Russian natural gas to Europe.

Mr. Trump has hailed Russia’s economic potential as “tremendous,” but he has previously held out business deals as a reward for a Russia that makes peace.

The quiet shift appears to reflect the administration’s pursuit of new ideas to end the war after talks surrounding a possible Ukrainian withdrawal from the rest of the Donbas region ran aground.

Mr. Kushner referred to the impasse in an appearance by video link at a gathering of international supporters of Ukraine in Kyiv last weekend, the YES Annual Meeting.

“President Putin’s laid out his line of what he wants to achieve,” Mr. Kushner said. “If Ukraine, you know, wanted to withdraw to that line, then obviously, we have the rest of the deal set up and put together. Ukraine right now does not want to do that.”

This month’s trip to Moscow and then to Kyiv by Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner appeared to be an effort to restart the negotiations. Ukrainian officials said that trilateral peace talks between the United States, Ukraine and Russia could resume in October. The possibility of a limited cease-fire — ending strikes on shipping in the Black Sea or on energy infrastructure — is expected to be discussed in those talks.

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