Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he may discuss a decline in Russian oil purchase with Chinese President Xi Jinping, following US sanctions on two major oil companies in Moscow and reiterated his claim that India is “completely cutting back” its Russian oil imports, Bloomberg reported.
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he left for Asia for a meeting with leaders including Xi, Trump said he hoped his talks with the Chinese president would produce a “complete deal”. Due to the standoff between US and China over trade, tech and raw material restrictions has raised the stakes of Trump’s visit to Asia and the two global financial powers signing a deal to pause the trade war.
Ahead of Trump and Xi’s planned meeting during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, top US and Chinese negotiators held trade talks on Saturday in Kuala Lumpur and a US Treasury spokesperson called it “very constructive”. The US delegation, being led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and the Chinese delegation, being led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, would resume talks on Sunday.
Trump on Saturday claimed that China has cut back on Russian oil imports and India is cutting back completely as he announced sanctions against Moscow’s Rosneft and Lukoil oil majors. Reports stated on Friday that Chinese-state owned companies, including Sinopec canceled some purchases of Russian crude.
Responding to reporters on whether he will discuss Russia oil purchases with Chinese counterpart, Trump said, “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.”
The US president added that he would discuss the agriculture sector as he wants American farmers to be taken care of. Trump said he would discuss fentanyl, which he claimed that a major chunk comes from Beijing.
