Days after Hillary Clinton assailed Donald Trump’s understanding of foreign affairs in a widely publicized speech, the presumptive Republican nominee claimed she “got it all wrong,” but he continued to insist he will take a tough line toward making Japan pay for its defense.
“It was supposed to be foreign policy and it was really Trump policy,” Trump told ABC’s John Dickerson in an interview set to air Sunday. “She got it all wrong.”
Trump accused Clinton of misrepresenting his views about the development of nuclear weapons in Japan and South Korea, claiming he simply wants “these countries to pay for protection.”
“I don’t want to see Japan go nuclear. I want to see Japan help us out,” Trump said, adding that “we have $19 trillion in debt, it’s very soon going to $21 trillion. I want these countries to reimburse us at least for our cost.”
Trump doubled down on his willingness to walk away from national security negotiations with Japan and Saudi Arabia, if he were to find himself dissatisfied with the current arrangements as president. This, he claimed, is a major difference between himself and Clinton.
“You always have to be prepared to walk,” he told Dickerson, adding that Clinton said, “‘We will never walk for these countries.'”
“Well, then we’ll continue to lose billions and billions of dollars,” he noted. “You have to be prepared to walk. You can’t go into a negotiation without it.”
The full interview containing Trump’s reaction to Clinton’s blistering critique will air Sunday at 10:30 a.m. ET.
