On the final day of Trump’s second foreign visit, the president met with Pacific Rim nations with a goal of containing North Korea.
HAMBURG — President Trump met with his Chinese counterpart at the G-20 summit Saturday, hoping to revamp a relationship that he once hoped could provide the key to resolving the North Korea crisis.
Saying “something has to be done” to prevent North Korea from developing a nuclear missile, Trump thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his work on the issue.
“It may take longer than I’d like, it may take longer that you’d like, ” Trump told the Chinese premier. “But there will be success in the end one way or the other.”
But as Trump returns to Washington on Saturday night, there were few visible signs of progress on North Korea.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson complained Friday that while the U. S. and China agreed on the need to keep nuclear weapons off the Korean peninsula, execution of that policy has been “a bit uneven.”
“China has taken significant action, and then I think for a lot of different reasons, they paused and didn’t take additional action, ” Tillerson said.
After wooing Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in April, Trump hoped China would use its considerable economic ties to Korea to pressure the regime to abandon its missile program. But there have been a dozen North Korean test launches since then, prompting Trump to proclaim on Twitter that the U. S. has tried all the leverage it has with China.
Despite that, Tillerson said, “We have not given up hope.”
More G-20 coverage:
In a separate meeting Saturday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump also addressed what he called “the problem and menace of North Korea.”
Abe said the security situation in the region had become “increasingly severe.” Addressing Trump by his first name, Abe said he “would like to demonstrate the robust partnership as well as the bond between Japan and the United States.”
Trump’s final day of his second foreign trip took what his predecessor, Barack Obama, might have called an “Asia pivot.” Having already met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Saturday afternoon’s meetings were dominated by Pacific Rim nations.
• Meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Trump said the U. S. would soon be doing “a lot of business” with the Island nation. “We’re going to be doing a lot of deals together — trade deals, ” Trump said.
Widodo said Trump had “millions of fans” in his country who wanted him to visit.
“We’ll get there, ” Trump said. “It’s a place I’d like to go.”
• In a brief photo-op with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong, Trump said the U. S. had a “big relationship” with the small city-state, and he expected the relationship to “get bigger.”
