WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the Group of 20 summit (all times local):
6 p.m.
President Donald Trump is suggesting he may cancel his planned sit-down this weekend with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian naval ships Sunday.
In an interview with The Washington Post Tuesday, Trump says he will be receiving a “full report” from his national security team. He adds: “That will be very determinative,” Trump said. “Maybe I won’t have the meeting. Maybe I won’t even have the meeting.”
Trump says: “I don’t like that aggression. I don’t want that aggression at all.”
The comments were Trump’s strongest to date in condemnation of Russia’s recent actions in Eastern Ukraine, where tensions are flaring. On Monday, Trump did not explicitly criticize Russia’s behavior, leaving it to U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to speak out against Russia’s aggression.
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2:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump will be holding meetings with a long list of world leaders during his trip to Argentina for the G-20 later this week, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China’s Xi Jinping.
National Security adviser John Bolton says Trump will also be meeting with Mauricio Macri, the president of Argentina, South Korea’s Moon Jae-in, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls the trip an opportunity for the president to cement relations with other world leaders and advance a global economic system based on “free, fair and reciprocal trade.”
Economic adviser Larry Kudlow says Trump’s meeting with Xi will be a working dinner and that Trump is “open” to making a trade deal during the trip.
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1:15 p.m.
The White House is warning Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) against trying to wait out President Donald Trump in the ongoing trade dispute between their countries.
The warning from National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow comes ahead of the two leaders’ high-stakes sit-down Saturday in Argentina.
Kudlow says the Trump administration has been “extremely disappointed” by China’s engagement in trade talks but the meeting between Trump and Xi on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit could be a game-changer.
Kudlow adds that if the U.S. doesn’t get “satisfactory” responses to its trade positions more tariffs will be imposed. Kudlow says he hopes the Chinese understand Trump is “not going away.”
China’s foreign ministry has said a recent phone conversation between Xi and Trump about trade and other issues was “extremely positive.”
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