President Trump is speaking to reporters at the close of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Chinese state media reported Saturday Mr. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restart trade talks after meeting at the summit.
Mr. Trump in recent days has swung from optimism toward the meeting and threatening further escalation – some of it tempered from previous threats, including imposing tariffs on roughly $300 billion in imported Chinese goods that aren’t already subject to levies the White House has imposed over the past year. The U.S. imports roughly $600 billion in goods from China annually.
“My Plan B is that if we don’t make a deal, I will tariff. And maybe not at 25% but maybe at 10%,” Mr. Trump told Fox Business Network on Wednesday before leaving for the summit.
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Mr. Trump imposed an increase to 25% on $200 billion in imported Chinese goods after talks disintegrated earlier this year, just as Wall Street was betting an agreement was close.
Also on Saturday, Mr. Trump tweeted what he called a “feeler” to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un for a meeting. Mr. Trump will be traveling Saturday to South Korea to meet with President Moon Jae-in.
“I’m not willing to sacrifice” on climate change
World leaders at the G20 vowed to tackle climate change, but when asked if he ignores climate change, Mr. Trump said “I don’t ignore it.” Mr. Trump insisted he is “not looking to put our companies out of business.”
“I’m not willing to sacrifice,” Mr. Trump said.
The other world leaders ” understand where I stand – I’m not necessarily sure I agree with certain countries with what they’re doing because I think they’re losing a lot of the power they can do with factories – I’m not talking about political power — the power of a plant.”
Mr. Trump again criticized wind power.
Census is “expensive”
Mr. Trump weighed in the Supreme Court ruling that census workers could not ask people’s citizenship. Mr. Trump said it might be surprising for some that the census is “expensive” and costs “billions of dollars.”
“And you’re not allowed to ask if someone is a citizen — how horrible is that?” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump tweeted on Thursday that he is seeking to delay the census, although it’s unclear if the census could be delayed since the Constitution declares it must take place every 10 years.
Trump weighs in on Democratic debate
Mr. Trump said he had watched the Democratic debate and he thought Sen. Kamala Harris was “given too much credit” for confronting former Vice President Joe Biden about his comments on segregation and busing.
Mr. Trump then defended Biden, the frontrunner, and said Harris “wasn’t that outstanding.”
Mr. Trump then wouldn’t comment if she would be a “tough opponent” if she were to get the Democratic nomination. “You never know who will be tough – one you think will be tough turns out to be not much,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump also appeared to tease an upcoming policy announcement about education, saying “I will tell you in about 4 weeks because we will tell you about certain policy that would be interesting to several people.”
Trump: Kim Jong Un must follow me on Twitter because “we got an answer very quickly”
When the invitation to Kim Jong Un came up again, Mr. Trump said the North Korean dictator “follows me on Twitter” because “we got an answer very quickly.” He said he considered that the media would report he got “stood up” if Kim didn’t show up, but Mr. Trump said he decided to do it anyway.
“We’re not talking about an extended meeting — we’re just talking about a quick hello,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump then elaborated and said he gets “along with a lot of people” and said “I said long ago, I think I will be a sleeper on foreign policy.”
As for ongoing tensions with Iran, Mr. Trump said “we’ll see.”
Trump wouldn’t say if he mentioned Khashoggi to MBS
When pushed by CNN’s Jim Acosta, Mr. Trump said “I do” agree it is despicable for a journalist to be assassinated. But he insisted Saudi Arabia has “taken it very seriously and they continue to.”
Mr. Trump would not say if he directly raised it with Mohammed bin Salman, and said “nobody so far has pointed directly a finger at the future king of Saudi Arabia.”
An independent U.N. human rights expert investigating Khashoggi’s death said earlier this month there is “credible evidence” linking bin Salman’s to the murder. Bin Salman has denied any involvement.
Jimmy Carter “was a nice man but a terrible president”
Mr. Trump called former President Carter a “nice man but a terrible president” after his remarks that Mr. Trump is a “illegitimate president.”
“Russia, Russia Russia,” Mr. Trump said. He blamed it as a “Democrat talking point.”
“He’s a Democrat — he’s loyal to Democrats, which I guess you should be,” Mr. Trump said.
Trump doesn’t give specifics on deal with China
When pressed to give details about any deal reached with Xi, Mr. Trump declined to provide specifics. “We’re holding on tariffs and they’re going to buy farm product,” Mr. Trump said. “They would like to make a deal, I can tell you that.”
Although Mr. Trump was asked about China’s requests to take Huawei off the black list, Mr. Trump said “we have to save that for the very end — we’ll have to see.”
Trump: I’d be “very comfortable” crossing into North Korea
Mr. Trump said he would be “very comfortable” crossing over the DMZ and into North Korea. “Sure, would very comfortable with that,” he said.
Mr. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader in 2018 at the Singapore summit. No sitting U.S. president has ever gone into North Korea
Trump says he wants more Chinese students to come to U.S.
Mr. Trump said he and Xi talked about education, saying “somebody” said it was harder for Chinese students to come to the U.S. under his immigration policy. But, Mr. Trump said, “we want Chinese students to come in.”
Mr. Trump said Chinese students can’t stay in the U.S. after graduating from school. But he said they wanted them to stay, and they’ll call it the “smart person’s waiver.”
“Make it so they can not only stay but maybe have access to green cards,” Mr. Trump said.
Trump: U.S. won’t be adding more tariffs “for the time being”
Mr. Trump said he had a “very beautiful” dinner with Xi, saying they had a “great meeting” and “we will continue to negotiate.” Mr. Trump said he promised “at least for the time being” that the U.S. won’t be adding any more tariffs.
“We’re going to work with China where we left off,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump insisted China agreed to start “tremendous amount of food and cultural product” and “our farmers are going to be a tremendous beneficiary.”
Trump says he met with Mexican officials on immigration
Mr. Trump said he met with Mexican officials on immigration, saying they did an “incredible job” on immigration.
“They’ve really stepped up to the plate,” Mr. Trump said about Mexico. “I want to thank them.”
Mr. Trump slammed the federal judge in California who blocked his administration from using Pentagon money for a border wall, saying they “would appeal.”
Trump: Kim Jong Un “very receptive” about invitation
Mr. Trump said Kim Jong Un was “very receptive” to his tweet to come to the DMZ. He said nothing had been confirmed yet, but “we’ll see.”
Abe officially closes out G20 summit
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe closed out the G20 summit, and Saudi Arabia will take over the presidency next year. Abe said at the summit, they had “Data Free Flow With Trust” (DFFT), reached agreement on a vision of eliminating marine plastics litter , and built momentum on the empowerment of women.
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who met with Mr. Trump earlier on Saturday, said under Saudi Arabia’s presidency they will “work towards inclusiveness and fairness to realize prosperity, youth and women empowerment,” and encourage entrepreneurs and small businesses. He said next year’s G20 will also address climate change and attempt to pursue pragmatic solutions, as well as helping the least developed countries with infrastructure, access to energy and water sources, and investment in human capital.
North Korea responds to Trump invitation
North Korea’s government released a statement calling Mr. Trump’s invitation a “very interesting suggestion” but said they hadn’t received a official proposal.
Trump had threatened earlier “I will tariff” if no deal with China
Ahead of Saturday’s meetings, Mr. Trump swung from optimism toward the meeting and threatening further escalation – some of it tempered from previous threats, including imposing tariffs on roughly $300 billion in imported Chinese goods that aren’t already subject to levies the White House has imposed over the past year. The U.S. imports roughly $600 billion in goods from China annually.
“My Plan B is that if we don’t make a deal, I will tariff. And maybe not at 25% but maybe at 10%,” Mr. Trump told Fox Business Network on Wednesday before leaving for the summit. Larry Kudlow, Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser, on Thursday told CBNC there are “no preconditions” set ahead of the meeting, adding the White House could move ahead with the new tariffs.
Mr. Trump imposed an increase to 25% on $200 billion in imported Chinese goods after talks disintegrated earlier this year, just as Wall Street was betting an agreement was close.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said earlier this week that China intends to defend itself against such U.S. moves to penalize it over trade friction. Such threats “won’t work on us because the Chinese people don’t believe in heresy and are not afraid of pressure,” the spokesman told the Associated Press.
— Rachel Layne
Trump: U.S. expected to “quadruple” business with Turkey
Mr. Trump said after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he expected business with the country “quadruple.” Erdogan added they are working toward fulfilling a goal of a $75 billion trade volume–Mr. Trump later added that he thinks it will be “well over $100 billion soon.”
When asked if the U.S. would impose sanctions on for purchasing the S-400 missile system from Russia, Mr. Trump said it was a “complicated situation.”
The White House’s summation of the meeting between Mr. Trump and Erdogan said the president “expressed concern” about the purchase.
Trump tweets invitation to Kim Jong Un
Mr. Trump on Friday tweeted an invitation to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to come to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in. “While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
Later, Mr. Trump told reporters that “I put out a feeler because I don’t know where he is right now, he may not even be in North Korea.”
“He sent me a very beautiful birthday card and I just–what I did is–and I guess he got my return letter, because it’s in the newspaper, it’s him reading the return letter,” Mr. Trump said. “But I just put out–I just thought of it this morning. We’ll be at the area, we may go to the DMZ, or the border as they call it.”
Mr. Trump’s summit with Kim in Vietnam earlier this year collapsed without an agreementf or denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s government said earlier Friday that North Korea is ready for talks with the U.S.
Earlier Friday, the U.S. Special Representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, would not answer a question from CBS News’ Weijia Jiang about whether there would be a third summit with North Korea.
Trump calls Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman a “friend of mine”
Mr. Trump told reporters Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is a “friend of mine.” Mr. Trump called bin Salman “a man who has really done things in the last 5 years in terms of opening of Saudi Arabia.”
Mr. Trump did not answer questions about Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. An independent U.N. human rights expert investigating Khashoggi’s death said earlier this month there is “credible evidence” linking bin Salman’s to the murder. Bin Salman has denied any involvement.
Mr. Trump on Saturday praised bin Salman for doing a “speculator job” and said they’ve had meetings on “trade, and economic development and on the military.”
“As you know, Saudi Arabia is a big purchaser of American products of American products and especially of America military equipment,” Mr. Trump said. “We make the best in the world by far. And we appreciate that they do. They create at least a million jobs are created by the purchases made by Saudi Arabia, so we’re very happy to be with you. Great honor. Thank you all very much for being here.”
According to the White House, the pair had a “productive meeting” where they discussed “Saudi Arabia’s critical role in ensuring stability in the Middle East and global oil markets, the growing threat from Iran, increased trade and investments between the two countries, and the importance of human rights issues.”
Trump tells Putin “don’t interfere in the election”
Before a closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Mr. Trump and Putin sat together in front of journalists for a photo opportunity. One of the reporters asked Mr. Trump if he would press the Russian leader to ensure his country does not interfere again in the U.S. democratic process.
“Of course I will,” said Mr. Trump with a smirk, before pointing in Putin’s direction and saying, “don’t interfere in the election.” It was unclear whether Mr. Trump followed his sardonic response in front of the cameras with a more serious warning to the Russian leader behind closed doors. The White House did not respond to an inquiry about whether the president’s warning was sincere.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russian government carried out an orchestrated campaign aimed at influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Mr. Trump acknowledged that interference, but rejected the intel communities’ findings that the Russians “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” and tried to help him.
