If North Korea abandons nukes, US is ready to sign a deal, says Trump

North Korea must get rid of its nukes, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday and expressed hope that the US would be able to deal in a very open and honourable fashion with the reclusive nation over the issue.

Trump's remarks came during a joint news conference with the French President Emanuel Macron at the White House.

Trump said his administration had made no concession to North Korea.

A lot of concessions have already been made. We have made no concessions, despite some of the media saying that I've made concessions. I haven't even discussed a concession. Other than the fact that meeting is a great thing, Trump told reporters.

Trump said he believed in complete denuclearization.

"It means they get rid of their nukes. Very simple, they get rid of their nukes and nobody else would say it. It'd be very easy for me to make a simple deal and claim victory, I don't want to do that. I want them to get rid of their nukes," he said in response to a question.

Trump has agreed to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The venue of the meeting has not been decided yet, but it would not be in the United States.

I hope that we will be able to deal in a very open and honorable fashion with North Korea. I started a process, and when I did everybody thought I was doing it absolutely wrong, he said.

The United States, he said, put the strongest sanctions on a country that it ever has had. China supported the US effort, he said, as he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two leaders also hinted about a new deal with Iran that includes a solution to the Syrian crisis, as the two leaders to contain Iran in the region and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Trump in fact warned Iran of grave consequences if it threatened the United States.

France and the United States, Trump said agree that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and that regime must end its support of terrorism. No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems, he alleged.

He also said countries in the Middle East, who have a lot of money, need to pay for the security that America provides to them.

Countries that are in the area, some of which are immensely wealthy, would not be there except for the United States and to a lesser extent France. But they wouldn't be there except for the United States, they wouldn't last a week, Trump said.

We are protecting them. They have to now step up and pay for what's happening. Because I don't think France or the United States should be liable for the tremendous cost. The United States is embarrassingly into the Middle East as of a few months ago, he said in response to a question.

The US has spent USD 7 trillion for the war in the middle east.

And when we want to build our infrastructure, everybody says that we want to be careful with our money. When we want to fix a highway or we want to build schools and lots of other things, tunnels, bridges, they say oh, let's be careful with our money, he said.