President Donald Trump said Monday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at next month’s G-20 summit in Japan.
Trump had not previously confirmed that he was attending the event in Osaka, but his announcement that he will meet with Putin, whose relationship with the U.S. leader has been heavily scrutinized, is sure to interest Russia hawks and critics who say Trump has not been serious in seeking to deter Moscow from meddling in next year's presidential election.
The meeting will be the first time the leaders have come face to face since the release last month of special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings, which detailed extensive attempts by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf but did not find enough evidence to prove that Trump or anyone on his campaign conspired to aid in those efforts. It also comes amid disagreement between the two countries over rapidly escalating tensions in both Venezuela and Iran, and on the heels of North Korean missile tests that some experts have said might be tied to Russia.
Asked what message he’d like to send to Putin via Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is set to meet with the Russian president in Sochi in the next few days, Trump said that despite what his critics may say, “I think the message is that there's never been anybody that's been so tough on Russia.”
“It makes sense to get along with Russia,” Trump continued. “Nobody has sanctioned Russia like I have. Nobody has talked about the pipeline going to Germany and various other places like I have.”
Trump’s disclosure that he would also meet with China’s Xi came after a weekend that saw tensions between the two countries ratchet up as trade negotiators failed to reach a deal to avert a tit-for-tat war of tariffs. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods give him leverage in the negotiations, but Beijing announced it would retaliate even after Trump warned China against it.
Trump also accused Beijing of going back on a trade deal that was 95 percent complete, necessitating the additional tariffs he slapped on last week.
“That’s not acceptable,” he told reporters.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
