Trump wary of China-Russia ties, aims to improve US relations with both

By Kate Sullivan

 

President Donald Trump expressed caution over closer ties between China and Russia, outlining plans to improve ties with two countries that have united in opposing the US on the world stage.

 

“As a student of history, which I am — and I’ve watched it all — the first thing you learn is you don’t want Russia and China to get together,” the US leader told Fox News, in comments that came shortly after he wrapped talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that fell short of securing a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.

 

The Republican leader cast doubt over the foundation of Moscow and Beijing’s bilateral relationship, saying it wasn’t “natural.” “They’re probably friendly now, but we’re going to be friendly with both,” he added.

 

Trump’s embrace of Russia has been seen by some analysts as an attempt to split Moscow from Beijing, in a so-called “reverse Nixon” — a reference to America’s efforts in the Cold War era to divide the two powers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed that notion last month, warning that while the US wanted to stop Russia from becoming China’s junior partner having the nuclear-armed neighbors at odds would be bad “for global stability.”

 

President Xi Jinping declared a “no limits” friendship with Putin days before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while access to Chinese markets handed Moscow an economic lifeline as US-led sanctions left it isolated. The Chinese government has praised Russia for holding talks with Washington over ending the war, and called any attempts to sow discord “doomed to fail.”

 

Trump in his interview traced the warming of ties between Russia and China back to the Barack Obama era, saying the two nations were forced together through “bad energy policies,” without elaborating. The US leader has argued countries like China were handed an unfair advantage by being left to use coal power as previous US administrations pushed a clean energy agenda.

 

While Trump has spoken directly with Putin since coming into power, he’s still yet to hold talks with China’s leader, despite the US twice hiking tariffs on the world’s No. 2 economy. 

 

“China needs us in terms of trade very badly and but we have to straighten out the deficit,” Trump said. “And with Russia, they would like to have some of our economic power.”