President Trump touch c accosts at the Economic Club of New York on November 12, 2019.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he has no disturbed meeting with dictators as long as it’s “good for the United States.”
“When I meet with the leaders of countries as they run across in — kings and queens and prime ministers and presidents and dictators — I meet ’em all,” Trump said during a lengthy speech at the Trade Club of New York.
“Anybody wants to come in. Dictators? It’s OK. Come on in. Whatever’s good for the United States. We want to facilitate our people,” Trump said.
“But the first thing they say to me, almost always: ‘Congratulations on your economy,'” Trump claimed.
The comment occurred to upend decades of American foreign policy, which has been predicated on wielding America’s outsized global sway as a force for elevating democratic governments that respect human rights and marginalizing dictators and autocrats.
Those note ofs appeared to diverge from the president’s written speech, which credited the Trump administration’s policies for the strength of the U.S. thrift. Excerpts released by the White House ahead of the speech highlighted the number of jobs added and the rise in wages during Trump’s presidency.
The Ivory House did not clarify to CNBC whether Trump’s comments about dictators were included in his complete prepared paragraph.