The high-level meeting was announced last week, and it is hoped that it will lead to an end to the war in Ukraine.
"We're going to see what happens with our meeting," Trump said when a reporter asked if the United States might offer Russia access to rare-earth minerals as an incentive to end the war in Ukraine.
The meeting "is going to be very important for Russia and very important for us only in that we are going to save a lot of lives," Trump said during a Thursday afternoon press conference at the White House.
He said the United States is being paid in full for military equipment obtained by Ukraine through NATO.
"We're not spending any money anymore," the president said. "[President Joe] Biden gave them $350 billion, [and] we got nothing for it."
He said a rare-earth minerals deal with Ukraine will help the United States recoup its costs for helping Ukraine in its defense against Russia, which invaded the nation in February 2022.
"What I'm really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week," Trump said. "Last week they lost 7,251 people, mostly Russian and Ukrainian soldiers."
Friday's summit won't be the most important meeting to end the Ukraine war, he added.
A second meeting that would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be the most important, Trump said.
Putin on Thursday announced his intentions for Friday's Alaska summit.
The Trump administration "has been making what I consider to be fairly vigorous and sincere efforts to halt hostilities, resolve the crisis and reach agreements that serve the interests of all parties involved in this conflict," Putin said in an address to "colleagues."
"The aim is to establish long-term conditions for peace not only between our countries but also in Europe and indeed globally," Putin added," especially if we proceed to subsequent stages involving agreements on strategic offensive arms control."
The summit will be held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and starts at 11:30 a.m. ADT, according to Putin aide Yury Ushakov.
Near the military base, "a memorial cemetery holds the remains of nine Soviet pilots, two military personnel and two civilians who perished between 1942 and 1945 while ferrying aircraft from the United States to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program," Ushakov said.
"Thus, the meeting will unfold near a site of profound historical importance -- one that underscores the wartime camaraderie between our nations," he said.
The summit will start with a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin with interpreters present, followed by a delegation format that extends into a working lunch.
Each delegation will have five members, in addition to Trump and Putin, and the two presidents will hold a joint press conference afterward.
Ahead of Friday's summit, Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street in London.
The meeting was to show the United Kingdom's support of Ukraine after Zelensky was not invited to Friday's Alaska summit.
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