President Donald Trump said Thursday that the rhetoric between the United States and North Korea has "calmed down" recently.
Trump was speaking in Richfield, Ohio to tout his infrastructure plan, but he also discussed other issues including tensions on the Korean peninsula. He first told the audience about a recent trade deal that the United States reached with South Korea.
"Just this week we secured a wonderful deal with South Korea," Trump said. "We were in a deal that was a horror show. It was going to produce 200,000 jobs—and it did, for them. That was a Hillary Clinton special, I hate to say it. 'This will produce 200,000 jobs.' She was right, but it was for them; it wasn't for us. So we have redone it. And that is going to level the playing field on steel and cars and trucks coming into this country."
Trump went on to say that he might hold up the deal until he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year and sees if the two men can reach an agreement.
"I may hold it up till [sic] after a deal is made with North Korea. Does everybody understand that?" Trump asked. "Because it is a very strong card, and I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly and we're moving along very nicely with North Korea. We'll see what happens. Certainly the rhetoric has calmed down just a little bit, would you say? Would you say?"
Trump announced earlier this month that he had accepted an invitation from Kim to meet at an undetermined time, after a year in which the two leaders routinely exchanged public threats. Trump previously nicknamed Kim "Rocket Man" and said North Korea would face "fire and fury" if he made good on his belligerent rhetoric to harm the United States or its allies.
Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping informed Trump about his meeting with Kim and said the North Korean leader is looking forward to meeting with Trump.
Trump concluded that his administration will see how everything "plays out" before agreeing to any deal with North Korea and before following through on the trade deal with the South.
"We'll see how it all turns out. Maybe it will be good, and maybe it won't," Trump said. "If it is no good, we're walking. If it is good we will embrace it, but it's going to be very interesting over the next period of time. And South Korea has been wonderful, but we'll probably hold that deal up for a little while, see how it all plays out."