Trump now in Vietnam for APEC

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Vietnam for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Friday (November 10).

Vietnam is the fifth leg of Trump’s Asia trip, coming after the U.S. President’s visit to China where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump and other APEC leaders, including Xi and Ruissian President Vladimir Putin, will meet on Friday in the Vietnamese seaside resort of Danang.

But Trump will not hold a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam, the White House said Friday.

Both leaders are attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the city of Danang and there had been mixed messages about whether a face-to-face was on the cards.

“Regarding a Putin meeting, there was never a meeting confirmed, and there will not be one that takes place due to scheduling conflicts on both sides,” press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters minutes before Air Force One touched down in the Vietnamese beach resort city.

On Thursday Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told Russian news agencies that the two would hold a meeting with the time and place still to be determined.

But hours later US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said no decision had been taken.

The White House press secretary’s comments shortly before arrival in Danang appear to end any speculation that a bilateral meeting will take place over the next two days.

The two men last met at the G20 summit in Germany in July.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have plummeted as a US probe has accused Trump’s former campaign aides of secretly meeting Kremlin-connected officials.

Russia has denied allegations of interfering in the US election last year that brought Trump to power.

(with reports from Reuters, Agence France Presse)