Donald Trump said that he shares Vladimir Putin’s desire to improve trade ties between Russia and the US as he commented on the lengthy phone conversation with his Russian counterpart on Friday.

“We intend to do a lot of trade with Russia,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We do some right now. It’s up a little bit. But [Putin would] like to do trade and we’d like to do trade.”

....We discussed Trade, Venezuela, Ukraine, North Korea, Nuclear Arms Control and even the “Russian Hoax.” Very productive talk! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2019

Trade turnover between Russia and the US amounted to around $25 billion last year, a 7.86% increase compared to 2017, according to Russia’s customs services.

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However, the sanctions war waged by Washington against Moscow is preventing a more fruitful cooperation. The Americans have targeted hundreds of individuals, companies and whole branches of the Russian economy with restrictions over Ukraine. Moscow responded by putting a ban on food imports from the US. Before that, the Russian-American trade turnover stood at over $29 billion.

Trump and Putin talked on the phone on Friday, discussing the possibility of a three-way nuclear deal involving the US, Russia and China, the situation in Venezuela and other issues besides trade.

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In an earlier comment on Twitter, the US leader said that his conversation with Putin was “long and very good.” With the Mueller report revealing no collusion between him and the Kremlin, Trump gave a reminder that he had been always saying that “getting along with Russia, China, and everyone is a good thing, not a bad thing.”

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