“I didn’t soften my stance,” the president said on “Fox & Friends.” “Look, China came to the United States, the president, who I really developed a very good relationship with, I think he’s a terrific person, I really got to know him very well.”

Trump said he was with the Chinese president for “hours and hours” over a two-day period earlier this month.

“We had a 15-minute scheduled meeting and it lasted for three hours, and the same thing happened the next day,” he said.

“We have a good chemistry together. He understands it’s a big problem. He’s working on it. Now, what am I going to do, start a trade war with China in the middle of him working on a bigger problem, frankly, with North Korea?”