USA: China deal would be 'very hard' if Hong Kong becomes 'another Tiananmen Square' – Trump

SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "China is eating the tariffs because of monetary manipulation. Also they're pouring a lot of money into their country because they don't want to lose jobs. They're losing - as you probably know because you reported it - but they lost over 2 million jobs in a short period of time. And they want to make a deal. We'll see what happens but they definitely want to make a deal. I'd like to see Hong Kong worked out in a very humanitarian fashion. I hope President Xi can do it. He sure has the ability I can tell you that from personal knowledge. He certainly has the ability to do it if he wants to. So I'd like to see that worked out in a humanitarian fashion. I think it would be very good for the trade deal that we're talking about."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "I think it'd be very hard to deal if they do violence [the Chinese government against protesters in Hong Kong]. I mean if it's another Tiananmen Square, I think it's a very hard thing to do [a trade deal] if there is violence. And, you know, I'm president, but that's a little beyond me because I think there'd be, you know, I think there'd be tremendous political sentiment not to do something. So I hope, because I think we can end up doing a very good deal. And I think China, by the way, needs a deal much more than we do. But I really do believe that if this weren't part of the deal [not responding to protesters with violence], possibly something would have happened already a long time ago."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "Well Greenland, I don't know, it got released somehow. It's just something we talked about. Denmark essentially owns it. We're very good allies with Denmark. We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world. So the concept came up and I said certainly, I'd be...strategically it's interesting, and we'd be interested. But we'll talk to them a little bit, it's not number one on the burner, I can tell you that. [inaudible question] Well, a lot of things can be done. Essentially, it's a large real estate deal. A lot of things could be done. It's hurting Denmark very badly because they're losing almost $700m a year carrying it. So they carry it at a great loss. And strategically for the United States it would be nice. And we're a big ally of Denmark and we help Denmark and we protect Denmark and we will."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "Well, we're looking at Afghanistan. We're talking to Afghanistan -- both the government and also talking to the Taliban, having very good discussions, we'll see what happens. We've really got it down to probably 13,000 people. And we'll be bringing it down a little bit more and then we'll decide whether or not we'll be staying longer or not."
SOT, Journalist: "Are you going to wait until after the Israeli election to put out your Middle East peace plan?"
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "I probably will wait but we may put out pieces of it. We have some very talented people, as you know our great ambassador and others, we have some very talented people. But that's probably the toughest deal of all: peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians because they've been decades of hate. And it's tough to make a deal when there's that much hate."
SCRIPT
US President Donald Trump said reaching a trade deal with China would be "very hard" if the Chinese government responded to the protests in Hong Kong with violence, saying "if it's another Tiananmen Square, I think it's a very hard thing to do" during an impromptu press conference during a visit to Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday.
"I think it'd be very hard to deal if they do violence [the Chinese government against protesters in Hong Kong]. I mean if it's another Tiananmen Square, I think it's a very hard thing to do," he said on the runway tarmac before boarding Air Force One. "I really do believe that if this weren't part of the deal [not responding to protesters with violence], possibly something would have happened already a long time ago."
Hundreds of thousands have taken part in protests against an extradition bill with China since the end of March and despite the bill being suspended indefinitely, protesters continue to fill the streets, while the Chinese military have been increasing its presence near the city.
The president discussed a range of other topics, from his suggestion to buy Greenland from Denmark to the US' withdrawal plan from Afghanistan and the peace deal between Israel and Palestine.