US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declined to say whether his administration would move to defend Taiwan against any possible mainland Chinese attack, while touting his “great relationship” with President Xi Jinping.
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“I don’t comment because I don’t ever want to put myself in that position” to commit in advance, Trump told reporters at the administration’s first cabinet meeting, joined by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has extensive business interests in China.
“We’re gonna have a good relationship with China, but they won’t be able to take advantage of us,” Trump added.
The US president also appeared to extend the deadline for 25 per cent tariffs on imports from neighbouring Canada and Mexico by a month to April 2.
But Secretary of State Marco Rubio, struck a slightly different tone from his boss on Taiwan. In an interview with Fox News, he suggested the US was committed to “prevent” such an attack from happening.
Rubio in his comments that aired on Wednesday said Beijing was aware of America’s military capability under its “strong leader, President Trump”.
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