China has expressed interest in joining a nuclear deal between US and Russia: Trump

5WASHINGTON: China has expressed interest in joining a nuclear deal between US and Russia, President Donald Trump said Friday.

We’re talking about a nuclear agreement where we make less and they make less,” Trump told reporters after his telephonic conversation with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

China, he said, has also expressed interest in joining a nuclear deal between US and Russia, he said in response to a question.

“Beijing possibly is more interested in a nuclear deal than trade,” Trump said.

In reply to another query, Trump also said he did not confront Putin on allegations of the Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.

We didn’t discuss that. Really, we didn’t discuss it, he said, adding they went into great detail on issues such as Venezuela, North Korea and nuclear arms control.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that the two leaders had a very good discussion. They spoke for a little over an hour, she added.

They discussed nuclear agreements, both new and extended, with the possibility of having conversations with China on that front as well, she said.

They discussed trade and the fact that it has increased between the two countries since the president has come into office. They also talked about North Korea. They also spoke about Ukraine and Venezuela – an overall very positive conversation, Sanders said.

Responding to a question, Sanders said there was a discussion on extending the current nuclear agreement, besides possibly starting a new one that could include China as well. PTI