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 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," he
said.
Asked whether he would try to talk some sense into the North Korean
leader, Trump replied, "Absolutely."
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 in his office
on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan. "China can solve that
problem with one meeting or one phone call."
A Chinese official said dialogue was needed to resolve issues on the
Korean peninsula.
“China supports direct talks and communication between the United
States and North Korea. We believe this is beneficial,” Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
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.
Sitting at his desk with an expansive view of Central Park, Trump
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.
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.
An adviser to Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential
candidate, criticized Trump's foreign policy comments, noting they
came soon after Trump said he was unlikely to have a good
relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"Let me get this straight: Donald Trump insults the leader of our
closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim
Jong Un?" Clinton's senior foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan,
said in a statement.
 Trump "seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen
like Putin and Kim. But his approach to foreign policy makes no
sense for the rest of us," he said.
In the Reuters interview, Trump said he thought Cameron's criticism
of him was inappropriate but "I'm sure I'll have a good relationship
with him."
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.
"I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I
will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a
maximum I may do something else," he said.
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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.
Trump has been criticized for offering far fewer specific policy
proposals than Clinton, his likely rival for the Nov. 8 presidential
election.
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," he said.
Trump took a dim view of Clinton's stated desire to put her husband,
former President Bill Clinton, in charge of building up the U.S.
economy.
"The wife wants to make him in charge of the economy," he said.
Clinton described Trump's idea of dismantling Dodd-Frank as
reckless. "Latest reckless idea from Trump: gut rules on Wall
Street, and leave middle-class families out to dry," she said on
Twitter.
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.
Silicon Valley investors responded on Twitter by poking fun at
Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again!" by repeating the
phrase, "Make Bubbles Great Again."
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 from the higher job growth spurred by his economic
policies.
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Emily Stephenson, Ginger
Gibson, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Jack Kim
in Seoul; Michael Martina in Beijing; Elaine Lies in Tokyo; Editing
by Ross Colvin, Tiffany Wu and Lincoln Feast)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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