US will ’take a pass’ on Ukraine peace deal

U.S. President Donald Trump has been speaking to reporters during the swearing-in ceremony for Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

On the subject of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said:

We’re going to get it done ideally. If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult … we’re going to just take a pass. Hopefully we won’t have to do that.

He said he believed there was a “good chance” of “solving the problem”.

Trump said his entire life has been “one big negotiation” and that he can recognize when people are “playing” him.

He tells reporters he needs to see “enthusiasm” from both sides to end the war in Ukraine.

I think I see that enthusiasm. I think I see it from both sides.

“Nobody’s playing me,” he adds.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Donald Trump said that the US is having good conversations with China amid the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

“By the way, we have nice conversations going with China … It’s, like, really very good,” he said.

He did not offer additional details, Reuters reports.