Trump leaves summit without a deal
President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s second summit ended without any agreement Thursday.
“Sometimes you have to walk,” Trump said at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. “This was just one of those times.”
Trump said the sticking point was sanctions, which Kim wanted lifted before taking all steps the United States was asking of him.
“It was about the sanctions,” Trump said. “Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that. They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for that.”
Despite the outcome, Trump said the summit was “very productive.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that the two leaders “discussed various ways to advance denuclearization and economic driven concepts.”
“No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” she added.
The lack of any tangible results could give fodder to critics who have accused Trump of holding summits with Kim that are nothing more than photo ops that boost the legitimacy of the North Korean dictator.