Exclusive: Trump willing to talk to North Korea's Kim, wants to renegotiate climate accord

Author: Reuters

May 17, 2016 at 19:51

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation.

By Steve Holland and Emily Flitter

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation.

In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, Trump also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine, and said he would seek to dismantle most of the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president.

The presumptive Republican nominee declined to share details of his plans to deal with North Korea, but said he was open to talking to its leader.

"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump said of Kim.

North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's remarks.

Trump, 69, also said he would press China, Pyongyang's only major diplomatic and economic supporter, to help find a solution.

"I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China," he said in the interview at his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Trump's preparedness to talk directly with Kim contrasts with President Barack Obama's policy of relying on senior U.S. officials to talk to senior North Korean officials.

Obama has not engaged personally with Kim, but he has pushed for new diplomatic overtures to Iran and Cuba that produced a nuclear deal with Tehran and improved ties with Havana.

Trump, sitting at his desk with an expansive view of Central Park, spoke at length about his economic and foreign policy ideas in the half-hour interview. Facing him on his desk is a framed photograph of his father, the late Fred Trump. A wall displays framed photos of Trump with various celebrities, as well as numerous magazine covers on which he has appeared.

The New York billionaire said he planned to release a detailed policy platform in two weeks that would propose dismantling nearly all of Dodd-Frank, a package of financial reforms put in place after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

"Dodd-Frank is a very negative force, which has developed a very bad name," said he said.

Trump has been criticized for offering far fewer specific policy proposals than his likely Democratic rival for the Nov. 8 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

He took a dim view of Clinton's stated desire to put her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in c-harge of building up the U.S. economy.

"The wife wants to make him in c-harge of the economy," Trump said.

Clinton described Trump's idea of dismantling Dodd-Frank as reckless. "Latest reckless idea f-rom Trump: gut rules on Wall Street, and leave middle-class families out to dry," she said on Twitter.

CLIMATE ACCORD

Trump said he is "not a big fan" of the Paris climate accord, which prescribes reductions in carbon emissions by more than 170 countries. He said he would want to renegotiate the deal because it treats the United States unfairly and gives favorable treatment to countries like China.

A renegotiation of the pact would be a major setback for what was hailed as the first truly global climate accord, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in the rise in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet.

On Russia, Trump tempered past praise of Putin, saying the nice comments the Russian leader has made about him in the past would only go so far.

"The fact that he said good things about me doesn't mean that it's going to help him in a negotiation. It won't help him at all," he said.

Last December, Trump said Putin was "highly respected" and said the United States and Russia could work together to defeat terrorism. Putin responded by saying he welcomed Trump's desire for better relations and called the Republican candidate "very flamboyant, very talented."

FINANCIAL BUBBLE?

Trump said he perceived a dangerous financial bubble in the tech start-up industry, with some companies selling shares at high valuations without ever turning a profit.

"I'm talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad concept and that are valued at billions of dollars," he said.

On the U.S. Federal Reserve, Trump said that while he eventually wants a Republican to head it, he is "not an enemy" of current chair Janet Yellen, who was appointed by Obama.

"I'm not a person that thinks Janet Yellen is doing a bad job. I happen to be a low-interest rate person unless inflation rears its ugly head, which can happen at some point," he said, adding that inflation "doesn't seem like it's happening any time soon."

The real estate mogul said he would maintain the current level of benefits for Social Security recipients, a position championed by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Trump said he would not raise the retirement age or impose a sliding scale of benefits depending on income levels.

Some Republican lawmakers have pushed for structural reforms to Social Security to extend its solvency.

The depleted Social Security Trust Fund, Trump said, would be replenished by the increased tax revenue that would flow into the government f-rom the higher job growth spurred by his economic policies.

Click here for excerpts f-rom the interview with Trump

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Emily Flitter; Additional reporting by Alana Wise, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Tiffany Wu)