President Donald Trump declined to characterize Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “dictator” on Friday.
Trump, flying back from his whirlwind bilateral summit with Xi in Beijing, was pressed to say if he believes Xi is a dictator, as former President Joe Biden frequently claimed during his term in office.
“I think that President Biden was an incompetent president. He gave us the Iran nuclear deal, which allowed Iran to have a nuclear weapon within a matter of years,” the president countered. “If [we] didn’t terminate that, Iran would have a nuclear weapon, and they would have used it within probably two years.”
Trump was pressed again on whether he thought Xi was a dictator.
“I don’t think about it. He’s the ruler — he’s the president of China. I don’t think about it. You deal with what you have,” the president said. “I respect him. He’s very smart. He loves his country. I respect him. Whether he’s a dictator, that’s for you to figure out.”
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Trump’s own rhetoric surrounding Xi has evolved since he first stepped onto the political stage in 2016. At the time, Trump frequently accused Xi and China of stealing American jobs and ruining the economy. Now, despite the lingering trade war, Trump routinely refers to his Chinese counterpart as “an incredible guy” and a “gentleman.”
Watch Trump’s comments in full below:
