President Trump said Tuesday that he hasn’t softened his position on China, but argued that it makes no sense to fight China’s currency manipulation at a time when the country is trying to help the U.S. rein in North Korea.
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“I haven’t changed my stance. China’s trying to help us,” Trump said in a Fox News interview. “I don’t know if they are going to be able to or not, but do I want to start heavy, heavy trade or currency manipulation statements against someone who’s out there trying to stop what could be a very bad situation?”
Ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the plan was to press China on trade issues while also seeking more help to deal with North Korea. Following the meeting, the priorities seemed to have switched when Trump offered trade concessions to China in exchange for more help dealing with North Korea in a tweet.
Trump ripped the media for its coverage of the issue, and noted that China has limited its energy trade with North Korea as a way of exerting pressure.
“Many coal ships have been sent back, fuel has been sent back. They’re not dealing the same way. Nobody’s ever seen it like that,” he said. “Nobody’s ever seen such a positive response on our behalf from China, and then the fake media goes ‘Donald Trump has changed his stance on China.'”
Trump refused to say if the U.S. sabotaged the North Korean ballistic missile test on Sunday and wouldn’t give a look into his thinking on what the future strategy might be.
“I don’t want to telegraph what I’m doing or what I’m thinking,” Trump said. “I’m not like other administrations, where they say we’re going to do this in four weeks. It doesn’t work that way. We’ll see what happens. I hope things work out well. I hope there’s going to be peace, but they’ve been talking with this gentleman for a long time.”
