Trump Vows ‘No Concessions’ with Turkey over Detained US pastor

Israel, which confirmed that Trump had requested Ebru Ozkan’s release, deported her on July 15. Ankara has denied ever agreeing to free Brunson in return.

Trump added: “I like Turkey. I like the people of Turkey very much. Until now I had a very good relationship as you know with the president. I got along with him great. I had a very good relationship. But it can’t be a one-way street. It’s no longer a one-way street for the United States.”

Trump drew a barrage of criticism at home and abroad after he stood side by side with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a July 16 summit in Helsinki and cast doubt on his own intelligence agencies’ findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 US elections.

In the Reuters interview, he ticked off areas that he discussed privately with Putin, including security for Israel, Syria and Russia’s annexation of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany that will supply natural gas to Germany.

Trump said Putin did not raise with him the issue of US sanctions on Russia but that he would consider lifting them if Russia took steps on such areas as Syria or Ukraine.

“I would consider it if they do something that would be good for us. But I wouldn’t consider it without that,” he said.

Turning to Iran, Trump showed little interest in meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program after earlier this month expressing a willingness to do so.

The Iranians, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have dismissed the offer. Trump said it did not matter to him whether he met Iran’s leaders and that there had been no US outreach toward Iran to discuss talks.

Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers earlier this year has raised tensions between Washington and Tehran.

“If they want to meet that’s fine, and if they don’t want to meet, I couldn’t care less,” he said.

Trump cast doubt on whether he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during an international Asia-Pacific summit in Papua New Guinea in November. Trump again talked up the warmth of his relationship with Xi, but said little progress has been made on his drive to rebalance the US-Chinese trade relationship.

“Maybe. I’m not sure that it’s been set up yet. We’ll see,” he said, when asked about a possible meeting with Xi.

He also said he had “no time frame” for resolving his administration’s trade dispute with China.

“I’m like them, I have a long horizon,” he said.