Putin Got a Red Carpet, Trump Got Nothing

The ‘dealmaker’ leaves Alaska summit with no deal – only humiliation.

Aug 16, 2025

*Trump smiles as he greets Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Aug. 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images*

President Donald Trump entered Friday’s Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin having once promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. On Friday, he left the press conference without a deal and without taking any questions – a reminder that even the self-styled dealmaker is powerless to resolve a conflict driven by the entrenched interests of rival empires. For a president who built his brand on striking deals, the sight of Trump walking offstage empty-handed was a public humiliation.

After a red-carpet welcome and a military flyover, the two leaders met for nearly three hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff on the American side. Before the talks, Trump even treated Putin to a rare ride in the “Beast,” the presidential limousine, with the two chumming it up and laughing. The Alaska summit was met with feigned outrage from liberal commentators who accused Trump of rolling out the red carpet for a leader wanted by the International Criminal Court on war criminal charges. Yet many of those same voices didn’t blink – and even celebrated – when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, himself wanted by the ICC, was welcomed in the halls of Congress.

In a brief press conference following the meeting, Putin, who spoke more than twice as long as Trump did, hinted at unspecified “agreements,” while the US president described the talks as “extremely productive.” Neither, however, made any mention of stopping the war in Ukraine, the outcome that Trump had claimed he was aiming for going into the summit. For all the bluster, all the branding, and all the theatrics, the self-proclaimed master negotiator couldn’t extract a single concession.

“There is no deal until there's a deal,” Trump said.

The press conference began with ceremonial exchanges, as Putin recalled the US and Russia’s history as allies and Trump declared the talks a success.

“I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate. And I’ll, of course, call up President [Volodymyr] Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting. It’s ultimately up to them,” Trump said.

“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump added, “We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

About 12 minutes later, they left the stage without fielding a single question, closing a summit marketed as historic, with no end in sight to the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

Putin, meanwhile, used the summit as an opportunity to portray himself as a gentle statesman. He talked about the bond the people of Russia and Ukraine shared, about the tragedy of the war that must be stopped, and even ended with a rare public comment in English, declaring the next meeting shall be in Moscow. "Oh, that's an interesting one," Trump said. "I don't know. I'll get a little heat on that one. But I can see it possibly happening."

Even as they failed to broker peace, the leaders discussed the prospect of doing business together, with Putin casting the Biden years as a historic low point in US-Russia ties.

In the days leading up to the meeting, Trump had been uncharacteristically bullish even by his own standards. Speaking to reporters ahead of the summit, Trump said he hoped “something’s going to come of” the meeting, while warning that Russia could face “very severe” consequences if it refused to move toward ending the war.

But nothing came of it. Not a ceasefire, apparently not even a framework for one. The man who claimed he could end the war in 24 hours left Alaska with the same stalemate he arrived with. Trump had given Putin the optics of legitimacy, the symbolism of a US president arriving with fanfare and departing with nothing. For all the talk of “very severe” consequences, there were none.

Aída Chávez is communications director and policy adviser at Just Foreign Policy. She was previously The Nation’s DC correspondent and a reporter at The Intercept, More Perfect Union, and other outlets.