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Trump becomes 'less precise' about China, Ukraine — former US legislator

Despite Trump’s calls on NATO allies to increase defense spending to five percent of GDP, many European countries "may find that the additional financial burden is simply too much to bear," Richard Black argued

WASHINGTON, January 22. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has become less precise about the Ukraine crisis and relations with China, retired US Colonel Richard Black, former state senator in the Virginia state legislature, told TASS.

According to him, Trump "has become less precise" about the Ukraine crisis, shifting from promising to end the conflict within 24 hours "to saying it could take as long as 100 days to finish." Still, Trump continues emphasizing that the conflict "was a needless waste of hundreds of thousands of lives and $200 billion dollars of American treasure," the expert noted.

Despite Trump’s calls on NATO allies to increase defense spending to five percent of GDP, many European countries "may find that the additional financial burden is simply too much to bear," Black argued.

He pointed out that Trump "emphasized that his early punitive tariffs will target Mexico and Canada" but "he was somewhat ambiguous about his earlier calls for tariffs on Chinese goods, emphasizing his good personal relations with President Xi Jinping and his intention to visit him soon." "Interestingly, he pointed to his fine relations with North Korea, and indicated that those good relations would resume," the analyst added.

Trump did not rule out on January 7 that resolving the Ukraine issue could take more than 24 hours, a timeframe he had set during his election campaign. He announced plans to hold talks with Putin on the Ukraine crisis within six months after his inauguration. Keith Kellogg, the US president-elect’s special envoy on Ukraine, said that he would like to meet a 100-day deadline.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that the US could stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and reiterated his readiness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin said earlier that Moscow was open to dialogue on the Ukraine conflict with the new US administration, with the priority being to address the root causes of the crisis. He confirmed that Russia was taking note of statements by Trump and his team members about their willingness to restore contact and the need to do everything possible to prevent World War III.