Trump offers trade deal with China to confront North Korea threat

"President Xi wants to do the right thing. We had a very good bonding. I think we had a very good chemistry together. I think he wants to help us with North Korea. We talked trade. We talked a lot of things," Trump told reporters at a joint news conference yesterday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House. 

Trump had spent two days with Xi at his Mar a-Lago resort in Florida and spoke to him over phone a day earlier.

"I said, the way you're going to make a good trade deal is to help us with North Korea. Otherwise, we're just going to go it alone,” Trump said referring to the latest telephonic conversation with the Chinese President.

"That'd be all right, too. But going it alone means going it with lots of other nations," he cautioned China, if the latter decided not to help him on the issue of North Korea, which has been carrying out provocative missile tests at frequent interval.

North Korea had threatened nuclear war with the US.

Trump said he was "very impressed" with Xi.

"I think he means well, and I think he wants to help. We'll see whether or not he does," Trump said.

In an interview with 'The Wall Street Journal', Trump said the US has "tremendous trade deficits" with everybody, but the big one is with China.

"It's hundreds of billions of dollars of year for many many years. And I told them. I said you know, we're not going to let that go ahead. Now, I did say — but you want to make a great deal? Solve the problem in North Korea. That's worth having deficits. And that's worth having not as good a trade deal as I would normally be able to make. Ok, I'll make great deals," he said.

In an apparent reversal from his previous stand, Trump said he would not label China a currency manipulator.

This was one of his top campaign promise.

"They're not currency manipulators," he said.

"Mr Trump said the reason he has changed his mind on one of his signature campaign promises is that China hasn't been manipulating its currency for months and because taking the step now could jeopardise his talks with Beijing on confronting the threat of North Korea," the report said.

In the interview, Trump insisted that the US will not allow North Korea to go nuclear.

"You cannot allow a country like that (North Korea)  to have nuclear power, nuclear weapons. That's mass destruction. And he doesn't have the delivery systems yet, but he — you know he will," he said.

"So, you know we (Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping) have a very open dialogue on North Korea. We have a very good relationship, we have great chemistry together. We like each other, I like him a lot. I think his wife is terrific. And you know, it's very rare that he comes and stays with somebody and spends that much time," Trump said.