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During the final leg of his Asia trip en route to South Korea, President Donald Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One, expressing confidence in his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their meeting at an economic summit.
Asked about U.S. efforts to curb fentanyl trafficking, Trump said the issue would be central to his discussions with Xi.
Ahead of his meeting with the Chinese leader, Trump said he hoped for progress on “a lot of problems,” including fentanyl trafficking, trade and tariffs.
“China is going to be working with me, okay,” Trump told reporters. “They’re going to be working with me, and we’re going to do something, I believe.”
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Trump said the issue would be a major topic of discussion in his upcoming meeting.
“We have to have the meeting — a meeting tomorrow. That’s a big meeting,” he said. “And fentanyl will be one of the things that we’re discussing. The farmers will be discussing a lot of things, but fentanyl will be one of the things we discuss.”
Trump stated that the fentanyl crisis and drug trafficking across the southern border are directly related, calling them “tremendous amounts of death.”
“We took in tremendous amounts of death. I call them the boats of death,” he said. “Under Biden and open borders, stuff was flowing. I think they killed 300,000 people last year — fentanyl drugs coming through the southern border. And now nobody gets through this. We’re very tough on the border.”
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Trump credited his policies with a sharp reduction in illegal drug trafficking by sea, saying it was “down about 80% by water.”
He also praised U.S. law enforcement and border officials for their efforts, saying, “Our border agents, our Border Patrol agents, they’ve been amazing. ICE — these people do such a great job with what they’re doing.”
During his visit, Trump also commented on international security issues, including the Israel-Hamas conflict and North Korea’s recent missile launches. He said he expects his meeting with Xi to be productive, adding, “I think we’ll get a great meeting with President Xi of China. And a lot of problems are going to be solved.”
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Trump’s comments underscored his push to link border security and international cooperation as key priorities ahead of his meeting with Xi.