NEW YORK, December 7. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump does not reject the dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President of China Xi Jinping, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said when speaking at the forum organized by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California.

"It's President Trump's vision and determination, like President [Ronald] Reagan, President Trump is willing to talk to rivals, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today. This is born of strength, not weakness," Hegseth said.

"Folks in Washington like to criticize President Trump for doing so, but those critics forget that this is exactly what Ronald Reagan did, and America was better off for it," he added.