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Shiny Thing!: Trump Suggests Russia Critics Switch Their Attention to China

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump advised on Saturday everyone focused solely on Russia's policy to pay attention to China, noting that Washington would be able find a common language with everyone.
Sputnik

"All of the fools that are so focused on looking only at Russia should start also looking in another direction, China. But in the end, if we are smart, tough and well prepared, we will get along with everyone!" Trump said on Twitter.

Trump and Putin met for the first official summit in Helsinki, Finland on July 16. The two presidents had a one-on-one private conversation followed by an expanded meeting. The two leaders discussed the Syrian refugee crisis, situation in Ukraine, nuclear proliferation and Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

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US officials have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential election. US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has been investigating allegations of collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign. Trump and top Russian officials have repeatedly refuted the allegations.

The US president has frequently characterized the Russia probe by Special Counsel Robert Muller as a "witch hunt" that has produced no evidence of collusion in well over a year.

Meanwhile, Trump's reference to China comes amid escalating trade war between the two countries. The US-Sino trade dispute started after Washington imposed steep steel and aluminum tariffs and banned exports to Chinese telecommunications company ZTE.

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Washington and Beijing have imposed billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each other's imports in an escalating trade row. Last week the Office of the US Trade Representative announced it had finalized new tariffs on $16 billion worth of products from China that would be subjected to a 25 percent tariff. US Customs and Border Protection will start collecting these duties on August 23.

China responded to a proposed tariff increase from 10 to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese products with a threat to impose duties of up to 25 percent on US imports worth $60 billion.

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