WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday afternoon that he received a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, and that the call with Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky on Wednesday was “two very good conversations.”
“The person with Putin was yesterday. It worked very well,” Trump said in an interview in the president's private dining room, just off the oval office. “I then spoke with President Zelensky and explained what happened yesterday. My purpose is to bring these two countries together. Then we will carry out a ceasefire and eventually stop losing 2,000 people a week. Over 2,000 people per week are killed in that war. Biden was a terrible, incompetent president, so I didn't ask him about it.
The White House said it read a read of Trump's call with President Putin on Tuesday. He noted that both leaders expressed interest in strengthening economic ties between the US and Russia.
“The two leaders agree that a future with improved bilateral relations between the US and Russia has a major advantage,” reads part of the White House reads. “This includes enormous economic transactions and geopolitical stability when peace is achieved.”
However, as reported by Breitbart News, the Russians effectively seized an American-owned company called GlavProduct. The canned food maker, entirely owned by the US company Universal Beverage, was taken over by the Russians on the day of former President Joe Biden's administration. The company's US CEO, Leonid Smirnov, has publicly urged Trump to help fix the situation as part of a US-led negotiation between Russians and Ukrainians to end the war in Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously told Breitbart News that revising the situation would be part of the road's future conversations as part of economic normalization between the US and Russia in these negotiations. When asked about this in an interview with Breitbart News, Trump said he had never heard of the issue personally, but he said he was confident Putin would be “very generous” to deal with it and fix the situation.
“I've never heard of this. No one has complained to me. But if you've ever heard of it, I'm sure Putin is very generous,” Trump said.
Trump also said that economically opening up with Russia to divide Russia from China is not a US goal or motivation, but it is the result of these actions.
“That could be the result of that, but no, I think it's a good thing,” Trump said. “We should deal with Russia. They have much larger land than China. They have 11 time zones. They can fly one time zone from one to the other. They have an incredibly valuable earth. Now we are trading with Ukraine in the rare earth. Of which Europe is $100 billion.
Especially when it comes to China, Trump also discussed US relations with Breitbart News. Asked about his recent summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said that he has “very good relations” with India, but India has too many high tariffs in the US.
“I have a very good relationship with India, but the only problem I have with India is that they are one of the highest tariff countries in the world,” Trump said. “I think they'll probably cut those tariffs significantly, but on April 2nd, they'll charge the same tariffs they charge us.”
Asked about the Indian Medium Eastern Europe and Economic Corridor (IMEC), a transaction he signed with the US during Modi's visit to the US, Trump did not specifically mention China, but said it was “a great group of countries” that opposed other countries trying to hurt us with trade.
“We have a strong group of trade partners,” Trump said. “Again, we can't make those partners treat us badly. We do things openly with our enemies in more respects than our friends. In some cases, things that are not friendly are better than those that are more familiar, like the European Union, which we deal with us in trade. Trade.”
Details from President Trump's exclusive interview with Breitbart News at the White House are approaching.
