President-elect Donald Trump may lift U.S. sanctions against Russia if relations between the two countries improve during his time in office, he indicated in an interview published by The Wall Street Journal Friday. "If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody's doing some really great things?" Trump asked, though he noted he will not make any major changes "at least for a period of time."
Trump also suggested possible diplomatic shakeup with China, announcing that "everything is under negotiation including 'One China,'" the long-time U.S. policy of formally accepting Beijing's claim that Taiwan is not a separate nation. "We sold them $2 billion of military equipment last year," he said of Taiwan. "We can sell them $2 billion of the latest and greatest military equipment but we're not allowed to accept a phone call. First of all it would have been very rude not to accept the phone call," Trump added, referring to the diplomatic kerfuffle over his acceptance of a congratulatory call from the Taiwanese president soon after the election.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Week contest: Amazon BondPuzzles and Quizzes
-
6 grand homes in BoulderFeature Featuring a mountain-facing balcony in Lower Chautauqua and a clover-shaped home in Flagstaff
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliamentTHE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
-
Rep. Sylvester Turner dies, weeks after joining HouseSpeed Read The former Houston mayor and longtime state legislator left behind a final message for Trump: 'Don't mess with Medicaid'
-
Trump pauses Ukraine intelligence sharingSpeed Read The decision is intended to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin
-
Supreme Court rules against Trump on aid freezeSpeed Read The court rejected the president's request to freeze nearly $2 billion in payments for foreign humanitarian work
-
Trump touts early wins in partisan speech to CongressSpeed Read The president said he is 'just getting started' with his sweeping changes to immigration, the economy and foreign policy
-
Trudeau blasts Trump's 'very dumb' trade warSpeed Read Retaliatory measures have been announced by America's largest trading partners following Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China
-
Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after public spatSpeed Read Trump and J.D. Vance berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy for what they saw as insufficient gratitude
-
Trump's Mexico and Canada tariffs begin, roiling marketsSpeed Read Stocks plunged after Trump affirmed that the tariffs would take effect, sparking a likely trade war
-
Judge tells White House to stop ordering mass firingsspeed read The ruling is a complication in the Trump administration's plans to slash the federal workforce
