Mr. Trump told reporters he "will want Putin's help" in dealing with the North Korea crisis
President Trump says he expects to meet with Russian President Vladmir Putin on the sidelines of an upcoming summit during his first official visit to Asia.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Japan on Sunday he « will want Putin’s help » in dealing with the North Korea crisis, adding that he’ll be meeting with a number of world leaders to discuss how to pressure North Korea.
The two leaders could cross paths twice during the president’s lengthy Asia trip: first at a summit in Vietnam and later in the Philippines. They previously met along the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, this summer where the two reportedly discussed election hacking and the North Korean regime.
Isaac Stone Fish, a senior fellow at the Asia Society’s Center on U. S.-China Relations, said that on one hand, it is helpful for Mr. Trump to meet with Putin to discuss Syria and North Korea.
« Russia is, while not an ally of North Korea, a fairly important trading partner for the country and it is helpful to have Russia on board, for the administration, » he said. « On the other hand… there is so much worry about Trump’s relationship with Russia.
