Donald Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE declared Monday that the United States never has to default on its debt because it has the ability to print money.

"People said I want to go and buy debt and default on debt — these people are crazy. This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money, I hate to tell you, OK? So there's never a default," Trump said on CNN's "New Day."

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The presumptive Republican presidential nominee echoed that sentiment during an interview on Fox Business, saying, "A lot of the papers said, 'Donald Trump wants to go and start negotiating with creditors.' First of all, you don't have to think about this, but we print the money."

Trump pushed back on coverage of his remarks from outlets including The New York Times, which reported that Trump was suggesting he might reduce the national debt by persuading creditors to accept less than full payment. The newspaper called such remarks unprecedented among modern candidates.

The reports were based on remarks in a CNBC interview last week when, asked if the U.S. should pay its debt in full or possibly negotiate a partial repayment, Trump said, "I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal."

Trump said Monday his plan would center on buying back debt if interest rates went up.

"I said if we can buy back government debt as a discount — in other words, if interest rates go up and we can buy bonds back as a discount — if we are liquid enough as a country we should do that. In other words, we can buy back debt as a discount," Trump said on CNN.

The self-described "king of debt" said debt is "tricky" and can be "dangerous."

"I know how to deal with debt very well — I love debt — but, you know, debt is tricky, and it's dangerous, and you have to be careful, and you have to know what you're doing," Trump said.