Trump blames Americans for trade gaps

Trump says could not blame the Chinese for taking advantage of the US

US President Trump heaped praise on President Xi Jinping of China on Thursday, saying he was confident China would help defuse the threat from North Korea and reduce its trade deficits with the United States, which he blamed on his own predecessors, not the Chinese.

Trump, speaking in Beijing, called on Xi to redouble Chinese pressure on the North over its nuclear and missile programmes, declaring, “We have it in our power to liberate the world” from the North Korean “menace.”

While the president also vowed to redress chronic trade imbalances, he framed them as a failure of American policy,