Trump also revealed he had canceled a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing lack of progress in diplomatic efforts. "It didn't feel right." Asset said, adding that he didn't want a "wasted meeting."
"Next week we will travel to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. In South Korea I will meet with Chinese President Xi. We will have a fairly long meeting planned. We can resolve together a lot of our questions, our doubts and our enormous strengths... We canceled the meeting with President Putin. It didn't seem right to me. I didn't feel like we were going to get where we need to get to, so I canceled it...", a Trump said.
The cancellation of Putin's summit follows Russia's rejection of Trump's proposed ceasefire plan in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump is optimistic about his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, hoping to leverage their discussion to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. He plans to discuss energy and oil with Xi, aiming to pressure Russia to negotiate a peace deal.
"I'll probably talk about it. What I'll actually talk about is how we end the war with Russia and Ukraine, whether it's energy or oil or something else. I think he (Xi Jinping) will be very receptive. I think he would like to see the war end," Trump said while speaking to reporters at the White House, where he received NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is scheduled to take place in South Korea from October 30 to November 1 in Gyeongju. President Trump further said he hoped the Chinese president could exert "great influence" on Putin to push for a ceasefire.
"I think he will have a great influence on Putin. I think he can have a great influence on a lot of people. He's a respected man, a very strong leader, a very great country, I think he can have a great influence," Trump added.
Trump claimed his predecessors, former Presidents Joseph Biden and Barack Obama, "forced" Russia and China closer together.
"China is a little different. Their relationship with Russia is a little different. It's never been good, but because of Biden and Obama they were forced closer, they should never have been forced closer, but by nature they can't be friendly. I hope they are friendly, frankly. You shouldn't have forced China and Russia to come together. Biden did that and Obama did that did this. They forced them closer together because of energy and oil," he said.