President Trump’s evolving positions on China, NATO and other issues can be chalked up to either circumstances moving closer to Trump’s positions or his desire to improve the lives of Americans, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
Trump has been slammed Thursday for flip-flopping on a number of positions. In recent days, he’s deemed NATO no longer “obsolete” as he did on the campaign trail and said China is not a currency manipulator, despite making that a regular part of his stump speech. He’s also praised Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and supported the Export-Import Bank, positions he felt the opposite on during the campaign.
Spicer said Trump’s feelings on certain issues continue to evolve, or in some cases, others are evolving toward his positions.
“You can look at what you’re referring to as a shift in a lot of ways, and by that I mean a couple instances, with respect to NATO … what’s happened is those entities or those issues, NATO in particular, evolving toward the president’s position,” Spicer said.
He added, “The entity itself is moving toward his, or the issue is evolving toward, the position he articulated.”
On other issues, such as Chinese currency manipulation, Trump has outright flipped his stance.
After meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said the world’s largest country was not a currency manipulator. When asked about Trump backing down from that kind of talk, Spicer dodged by saying the president’s concern is with what’s good for Americans.
“The president’s tough talk on a variety of subjects was to get results for the American people,” Spicer said. “That’s what he’s pledged to do.”
“This is always about developing a better situation for the American people.”
Spicer dodged multiple questions about the Export-Import Bank, which he had derided on the campaign trail on multiple occasions.
“Let me get back to you on the Ex-Im bank specifically. It’s a very complex issue,” he said.
