Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump would not say Friday whether he plans to sign legislation enacting tough sanctions on China for its crackdown in Hong Kong, cementing the impression Trump ranks the economic relationship with Beijing higher than human rights.

His noncommittal answer during a largely friendly interview prompted confusion and angst on Capitol Hill, where the measure passed this week with overwhelming bipartisan majorities.

And it furthered a pattern of Trump prioritizing fragile trade talks with China's President Xi Jinping over a forceful denunciation of his counterpart's battle with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong

"We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I'm also standing with President Xi," Trump said during a phone call to the Fox News morning program. "He's a friend of mine. I'd like to see them work it out, OK?"

Trump has spent months walking tenderly around the Hong Kong issue, raising it periodically but failing to voice a strong condemnation of China's tactics in the semiautonomous territory. In June, he told Xi in a telephone call he would remain quiet on the issue as trade talks progressed, according to senior administration officials and others familiar with the call.

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