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this week said his administration is talking with China to strike a tariff deal and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him, Time magazine reported, as Beijing has so far disputed the US characterization of talks. The Republican president, in an interview with the magazine on Tuesday that was published on Friday, did not say when Xi called or what the two leaders discussed. Trump said he would not call Xi.

"He's called. And I don't think that's a sign of weakness on his behalf," Trump said.
China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's statement. Before Trump's latest remarks were published, it had urged Washington to stop "misleading the public" on bilateral tariff negotiations, a comment reiterated by Beijing's embassy in Washington.

"The deal is a deal that I choose"

Trump in the interview said he has made 200 tariff deals and expected to finish negotiations in about three or four weeks, likening the United States to a department store where he sets the price. He gave no details of any such deals.

Asked if he would consider it a win if the US still had tariffs as high as 50 per cent in a year, he told Time: "Total victory." "We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I've made all the deals," Trump said. "The deal is a deal that I choose. View it differently: We are a department store and we set the price. I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it, or they don't have to pay it," he added.

Crimea to Russia

Trump also laid out his plans to make various other deals with world leaders from Russia's war in Ukraine to the Middle East with Iran and Saudi Arabia. Trump, who took office on January 20 and had vowed during his campaign to end the war in Ukraine on his first day, wants a quick end to the fighting and told reporters on Thursday that he thinks they are close to a deal. He also said he had his own deadline, which he did not detail.

His administration has offered a proposal in recent days as US officials met with Europeans and Ukrainians. His special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday. In his comments published on Friday, Trump told Time that Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, would remain in Moscow's hands. "Crimea will stay with Russia. And (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy understands that, and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time. It's been with them long before Trump came along," he said.

In the Middle East, Trump predicted that Saudi Arabia will enter the Abraham Accords, the series of normalization agreements Trump's administration negotiated between Israel and some Gulf countries during his first term. "I think Saudi Arabia will go into the Abraham Accords," he said. "That will happen." He added that he thinks the US will make a deal with Iran. Asked whether he was open to meeting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or President Masoud Pezeshkian, Trump replied: "Sure."

Trump has said he will visit Saudi Arabia and the region next month.

(With inputs from agency)

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