Washington, Jan 11: Working with countries like India, Russia and China is a “very good thing”, US President Donald Trump said Thursday, defending his efforts to improve ties with Moscow.
Trump said he was for strongest military, massive oil and gas and a lot of energy. “Putin (Russian President Vladimir Putin) can’t love that,” he added.
“Working with countries, whether it’s Russia or China or India, or any of the countries that surround this world and encompass this world, is a very good thing. That’s not a bad thing,” he told reporters at a joint White House news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
Trump said it was “very much better” having to do with North Korea where the US currently has a problem.
“That should have never been my problem. It should have been a problem solved many years ago when it was much less dangerous. But it was given to him, along with a big mess of other things,” he noted.
He blamed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his presidential rival in 2016 elections, saying she “was not was not for a strong military”.
“Hillary, my opponent, was for windmills, and she was for other types of energy that don’t have the same capacities at this moment certainly,” he said.
Trump said it was a “lot better” to work with other countries.
“We’re working with China on North Korea. We’re working with various other countries, and I think we’re doing very well. We had a great talk, as you know and as you reported.
“We had a great talk this morning with President Moon (of South Korea), and I think that a lot of good things are happening. We’re going to see what happens,” the US president said.
Solberg said Norway has a “very good” relationship with Russia.
“As a neighbouring country we do day-to-day work on things that we have to solve for the people and the economic activity that is in that area, which is a fragile area for the whole world,” she said.
Norway share border with Russia.
Responding to a question on allegations of Russian interference in elections in European countries, Solberg said her government has found no such evidence in Norway.
“I think that it’s up to every political system and countries to scrutinise and discuss their own political agenda in their countries. And I respect that very much and that this is an issue for American politics,” she said.
