President Donald Trump said he may discuss a decline in Chinese purchases of Russian oil with Xi Jinping following US sanctions on two major oil companies and expressed disappointment with Vladimir Putin over his conduct of the war in Ukraine.
Trump, speaking to reporters enroute to Asia for meetings with leaders including Xi, said he hopes his talks Thursday with the Chinese president would yield “a complete deal.”
An increasingly acrimonious standoff between the US and China over trade, tech and raw material restrictions has raised the stakes for Trump’s trip to Asia. Trump and Xi plan to meet during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.
In the buildup, US and Chinese negotiators held trade talks in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday that a US Treasury spokesperson called “very constructive.” Teams headed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng plan to resume talks Sunday.
Trump said Saturday that China had cut back on buying Russian oil. On Friday, Chinese state-owned companies including Sinopec canceled some purchases of Russian seaborne crude after the US blacklisted Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC.
“I may be discussing it, but you know China’s — you probably saw today — China is cutting back very substantially on the purchase of Russian oil, and India is cutting back completely, and we’ve done sanctions,” Trump said.
Trump said he was hopeful about talks with Xi, saying they’ll discuss the agriculture sector and China’s exporting of components of fentanyl.
The meeting would be the first face-to-face between the leaders of the two biggest economies since Trump returned to the White House in January. The two have spoken at least three times this year and Trump has said direct talks are the best way to resolve issues including tariffs, export curbs, agricultural purchases, fentanyl trafficking, geopolitical flashpoints such as Taiwan and the war in Ukraine.
“We’ll be talking about a lot of things. I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal,” he said.
Trump was less certain that the Russian president would work with him to end the war in Ukraine.
“I’m not going to be wasting my time,” Trump said of recently canceled talks with Putin. “I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing.”
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in its fourth year, the US on Wednesday imposed its first major sanctions on Russia’s petroleum industry and warned that foreign financial firms could be frozen out of the US finance system if they deal with Rosneft and Lukoil. Earlier, Trump backed off plans for a proposed meeting with Putin in Hungary.
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