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President Donald Trump on Monday said China “very badly” wants to make a trade deal with the U.S. and suggested he would soon meet with Iran’s president.
CHINA AND EUROPE TALKS
Speaking at the conclusion of the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “great leader” and said “I’m not sure they have a choice” but to make a trade deal.
Trump’s comments on China trade lifted stocks DJIA, +1.05% Monday. The president said the U.S. had gotten two “very good calls” from Beijing, even though the Chinese downplayed their significance.
See: Stocks rebound as Trump says China wants to return to negotiating table.
Trump also said the U.S. and the European Union were very close to a trade deal, and that he hoped not to slap tariffs on European auto imports. “They don’t want tariffs. It’s very simple. They don’t want to tax cars — Mercedez-Benz DAI, +1.50%, BMW BMW, +1.48% ” Trump said.
POSSIBLE IRAN MEETING
At a news conference, Trump said he thought it was possible to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani within a matter of weeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been working in recent weeks to broker a deal that would preserve the Iran nuclear agreement but address Trump’s concerns about the country. Trump said he was prepared to negotiate but reiterated that if Iran isn’t a “good player” it will be met with “very violent force.”
RUSSIA AND THE NEXT G-7 MEETING
As host of next year’s G-7 meeting, Trump said he’s looking at holding the event at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort. He claimed he wouldn’t “make any money” off of the summit and said without evidence that the presidency will wind up costing him as much as $5 billion.
Read: Trump touts his struggling Doral club in Miami as site for 2020 G-7 summit.
Trump also called it positive for the world if Russia would rejoin the group of advanced economies and that he would “certainly” invite President Vladimir Putin to the meeting.
“I would certainly invite him,” Trump said. “Whether or not he could come, psychologically, I think that’s a tough thing for him to do,” he added. Russia was expelled from the group after it annexed Crimea in 2014, and not all G-7 members agree on letting it back in.
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