Jon Decker talks President Trump in South Korea

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our White House correspondent John Decker joining us now as

(00:03):
the President continues to circle the Pacific rim if you will,
and just build relationships and do good things and build
America stronger in that region. John, I think pretty strategic
on it's part to go to Australia first and lock
that down when it comes to the minerals. And now
he's got the folks over there in South Korea and

(00:23):
other areas in that region before going to see China's
leader today. So pretty good trip he's on so far.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, he's reached a number of trade deals or frameworks
for trade deals so far on this trip, and that
has always been the primary focus of this trip. The
trade deals that he reached were while he was on
the first leg of his trip in Malaysia, reaching deals
with Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The President had already
reached a trade deal with Japan, and yesterday business leaders

(00:54):
in Japan pledged five hundred billion dollars in investments in
the US ten billion from Toyota alone to build more
manufacturing plants right here in the United States. The President
arrived earlier today in South Korea. That's the final leg
on his trip. He's attending the Apex Summit, and tomorrow
is when the President will be meeting for about three

(01:15):
hours JT with Chinese President Shijing Ping. A lot of
items on the agenda. That's the reason why that conversation
is going to be so long in duration.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, let's talk about the expectations of this meeting with China,
the contentious relationship right now. President Trump, you know, he
is a great negotiator, and he operates from a position
of first strength, but he's also nice in his negotiations
with these leaders. You know, he could go in all

(01:48):
boat up and everything, but he's learned and certainly says that,
you know, you've got to operate from a position, you know,
kind of an open, open minded, kind approach to this
whole thing. So I believe that there could be some
progress with China despite the contentious relationship.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well, there's already a lot of work that's been done,
so it's not like there hasn't been essentially homework that's
been done to reach a deal when the President meets
with President She tomorrow. Scott Bessen, for instance, met with
his Chinese counterpart for several hours over the weekend in Malaysia,
and they struck a deal in which those restrictions on
those rare earth minerals that China had put in place

(02:26):
they're going away. In addition to that, China also committed
to repurchasing its large volume of American agricultural products, including soybeans,
and that should help American farmers quite a bit. So
that work's already been done. There's already also been work
done as it relates to the issue of fentanol, which
the President has raised quite a bit with President she

(02:49):
when they've spoken on the phone. This will be their
first meeting, however, face to face since the President took
office back in January.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
All Right, very good, John Decker at the White House
this morning. John, thank you so much, and don't forget
to search for John Decker's The White House Briefing Room.
John Decker's podcast available on the iHeartRadio app. That's The
White House Briefing Room with John Decker, updated every day
once again on the iHeartRadio app.