FirstFT: Putin summit puts Trump the ‘dealmaker’ to the test

Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. Today we’ll be covering:

• The Trump-Putin Alaska summit

• Evelyn Partners’ sale process

• Israel’s increasing isolation

• And Big Tech’s swelling personal security spend

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Good morning. Today’s Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will put to test the US president’s claims that he is a dealmaker and a global peacemaker, after promising repeatedly to resolve the Ukraine war throughout his election campaign.

Context: Putin and Trump will meet on a military base in Anchorage, an Alaskan city just south of the Arctic Circle, in what will be both an international and domestic moment of reckoning for the US president. His recent attempts to get the Kremlin to agree to a ceasefire — including threats of additional sanctions and tariffs on Indian imports as punishment for buying Russian oil — have so far failed to bear fruit.

Hosting Putin on US soil, without inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or other European leaders into the room, appears an increasingly desperate push for a settlement, analysts have said. Trump has said he expected to know within the first few minutes if there was a good chance of brokering a ceasefire.

The apparent sidelining of European powers, however, has revived anxieties that any pact he proposes will be too sympathetic to Moscow and unacceptable to Kyiv and many American allies on the continent.

• Dispatch from Anchorage: Ukrainian refugees in Alaska have mixed feelings about the summit, writes Amy Mackinnon.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Economic data: The US releases import and export price indices for July, plus University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for this month.

• Results: Cochlear, Fortum, Mirvac and Pandora report earnings.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. China is warning western companies against stockpiling rare earths, telling buyers that doing so will put them at risk of even greater supply restrictions, according to two people familiar with the matter. The country processes about 90 per cent of the world’s supply, and has weaponised its control over the vital industry in the global trade war.

2. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway resumed selling Apple shares in the second quarter, dumping a stake worth more than $4bn. The conglomerate has reduced its exposure to publicly traded equities over the past three years.

3. American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency miner backed by Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, is scouring Asia for companies to load up with cryptocurrency, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is developing a “strategic” bitcoin reserve, and is aiming to buy a listed company in Japan and potentially also Hong Kong.

4. Evelyn Partners’ private equity backers are planning to kick off a sale process within months that targets potential suitors, including NatWest and the Royal Bank of Canada. The move is the latest example of consolidation in the wealth management sector, and could value the group at about £2.5bn.

5. International negotiations in Geneva that would have created a globally binding plastic pollution treaty have failed after resistance from the US and petrochemical producers. While delegates from the majority of the 170 countries in attendance were willing to compromise to secure a final agreement, the US refused to agree to anything beyond voluntary measures.

The Big Read

Kenya’s Amboseli National Park has played host to scientific research that has revealed much of what we know about elephants. It is also a financial asset, attracting millions in tourist dollars each year. The park’s return to local control has raised fears that efforts to protect the country’s wildlife will be set back. The changes bring to the fore the struggle for balance between community welfare and conservation.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Legal challenge: Opponents of Trump’s tariffs should be wary of relying on the courts. Judicial limits on the executive today will bind the hands of future presidents tomorrow, writes Todd Tucker of the Roosevelt Institute.

• Apocalyptic marketing: Everyone is talking about the end times because our fascination with doom is lucrative, writes Chine McDonald, director of think-tank Theos.

• $200,000 facelifts: In a beauty age shaped by Ozempic and AI, new and highly effective procedures by elite surgeons are being embraced by celebrities and the super-rich.

• Israel’s increasing isolation: Backlash over the Gaza war is stoking fears that the country is heading for pariah status.

Chart of the day

Big Tech group bosses, including Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang, have increased spending on their own personal security, after a number of high-profile attacks against US executives have sparked concern over public hostility to corporate leadership. A Financial Times analysis exposes the swelling security spend.

Take a break from the news . . . 

How can you break out of a summer reading slump? “The important thing is enjoyment,” writes Alice Fishburn. “Find your slow lane and stick in it.”