President Donald Trump says he told Chinese President Xi Jinping he won't impose any more tariffs 'for the time being' following their one-on-one talk in Osaka on Saturday, hitting pause once again in the trade war.

'We're not doing that. We're going to work with China on where we left off to see if we can make a deal,' the president told reporters at a press conference in Japan that ran more than an hour and touched on topics from Democratic debates to a potential meeting with Kim Jong-un.

'We will be continuing to negotiate and I promised that for at least the time being we're not going to be [adding] tariffs,' Trump said, confirming information that first appeared in Chinese media.

He spoke after declaring talks with China 'back on track' following a one-on-one with the Chinese president, who urged cooperation instead of confrontation.

Trump provided the update on high-stakes trade talks in a freewheeling press conference where he pushed back at the notion that he was joking when he told Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday not to interfere in the U.S. elections.

Trump also said that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had responded to his offer of a visit to the DMZ, and that the two men might enjoy a brief visit.

President Donald Trump faced the press at the end of his trip to Osaka for the G20 summit. He visits South Korea Saturday and Sunday, with a planned trip to the DMZ

On Russian election interference, Trump said: 'You're going to have to take a look at the words: I did say it,' Trump said, when asked if he was being lighthearted.

'I did say it, and I did discuss it a little bit after that, too,' the president revealed of his one-on-one with the Russian president. Trump had smiled during a Friday meeting with Putin when reporters asked him if he would tell him not to interfere in 2020. 'Don't meddle in the election,' Trump told him in front of a group of reporters.

Speaking about expanding trade with Russia, a nation under U.S. and E.U. sanctions following election interference in the U.S. and its invasion of Crimea, he said: 'I think they'd like to do trade with the United States. They have great land. They have really rich land. A lot of minerals and the kind of things that we like.'

Asked by DailyMail.com whether he delivered a sterner tone on election interference to Putin in private, Trump responded: 'No. We talked about it. We talked about it.

Asked by DailyMail.com whether he delivered a sterner tone on election interference to Putin in private, Trump responded: 'No. We talked about it. We talked about it. You know we've talked about it before. You know he denies it totally, by the way. How many times can you get somebody to deny something. But he has in the past denied it. He's denied it also publicly,' Trump responded.

He also said of their talk: 'I think he'd like to see arms control, ad so would we. I think it makes a lot of sense.'

Then he went after Special Counsel Robert Mueller, even as he called the Mueller report a 'good report.'

President Donald Trump speaks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a family photo session with other leaders and attendees at the G20 leaders summit

The Saudi Arabian and Russian leaders smile together as they greet each other ahead of the general summit on Friday

'The Mueller report was a very good report. I mean it was a good report. I had 18 people that hated me. I had Mueller who was totally conflicted and obviously didn’t like me ... and yet no obstruction, no collusions. That was a good report,' Trump said.

'The democrats want a do over. Or five. They want to get it right,' he said.

Trump confirmed a report out of Moscow that Putin had invited him to join the 75th anniversary celebration the defeat of the Nazi Germany that will be held in Red Square. He said he and Putin had discussed the millions of Russians who lost their lives in the conflict.

As to a Moscow trip, which would take place in May during the U.S. primary election season: 'I said I would give it very serious consideration,' said Trump.

The president also said North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has been 'very receptive' to his proposal for a brief meeting at the DMZ tomorrow. But Trump wouldn't guarantee the meeting would happen. Nor did he say it would be politically damaging if Kim didn't show.

The president tweeted about the idea Friday, saying he had thought of it that morning – although he had also told reporters he was thinking about it as far back as Monday.

Vladimir Putin says US and Russia will begin talks over nuclear arms Foreign ministers from the United States and Russia will begin talks over nuclear arms control but it may not lead to an extension of the START3 nuclear disarmament treaty, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday. 'We have charged our respective foreign ministers with starting consultations on this subject... but we can not yet say whether this will lead to an extension of START3,' Putin told reporters after a G20 summit in Osaka on Saturday. Putin did not say when talks would begin. START3 refers to a proposed agreement between the two nuclear powers for which negotiations broke down years ago. Intended as a successor to previous agreements, it would have required them to lower their numbers of deployed nuclear weapons. The two countries are currently covered by the New START treaty signed in 2010, which caps the number of nuclear warheads well below Cold War limits. But it expires in 2021 and Putin has been calling on the United States to negotiate an extension, saying Washington's failure to do so is a threat to arms control. Together with another agreement known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, New START is considered a centrepiece of superpower arms control. Earlier this month, Putin said Russia was prepared to drop New START if the US continues to put off negotiations, warning of a 'global catastrophe' if Washington works to dismantle the international arms control regime. Moscow suspended participation in the INF treaty in March after President Donald Trump's White House announced it would ditch the key agreement for alleged Russian violations of the terms. Advertisement

Trump said Kim had responded to his offer, but made no guarantees.

'So we'll see. Why he's there I'll shake his hand. We get along,' Trump said.

'There's been no long range ballistic tests,' the president noted, since his Singapore summit with Kim – although there were recent short-range tests.

'I let him know we'll be there and we'll see. I can't tell you exactly but they did respond very favorably,' the president said.

Trump said he did in a private meeting with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman raise the issue of the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally dismembered inside a Saudi consulate.

'I asked him what was happening,' Trump said.

'He’s very angry about it he’s very unhappy about it,' he said.

Trump also found a way to take shots at a pair of Democrats who clashed in the Thursday night debate – which he found a way to sneak a peek at despite back-to-back events with world leaders.

California Sen. Kamala Harris used the forum to attack former Vice President Joe Biden for his alliance with southern senators to resist federally-mandated school busing measures to force integration of schools. Harris tore into Biden at the event and brought up her own time as a child who was bussed to school in California.

Biden in a stumbling answer in the debate insisted he didn't oppose local busing initiatives, just not directed by the federal Education Department.

'I think she was given far too much credit for what she did. That was so out of the can what she said. That thing was right out of the box,' he said, implying the attack it was cooked up by staff.

Trump said she 'wasn’t that outstanding,' although pundits swooned over Harris's performance and said she might be a strong contender for the presidency.

Trump also cut Biden, whom he often slights as 'sleepy' and not sharp, some slack in how he responded to the attack. Biden defended his civil rights record but stumbled.

'This was not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with, okay,' Trump said. 'But it wasn’t I don’t think nearly as bad as they portended it to be.'

When a reporter followed up with a question about the substance of the fracas – whether he himself supports busing mandates as a method of racial integration – Trump gave an answer that either avoided a direct answer or belied a lack of understanding of what mandated busing is.

'Well, that’s something that they’ve done for a long period of time. You know, there aren’t that many ways you’re going to get people to schools,' Trump said. 'So this is something that’s been done. In some cases, it’s been done with a hammer instead of a velvet glove.'

Then he added: 'But it is certainly a primary method of getting people to schools.'

Trump spoke to reporters at the end of his Osaka summit, hours after saying new talks with China were 'back on track.'

The president faced the press a day after making a crack to Putin about the 'fake news,' and after announcing a breakthrough in talks following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump said negotiations with China are 'back on track' after an 'excellent' meeting with the Chinese president, who warned him of the risks posed by 'confrontation.'

'We had a very good meeting with President Xi of China. Excellent, I would say excellent,' Trump told reporters Saturday in Osaka during a separate meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

China's Xinhua state-run news agency reported the U.S. would hold off on threatened tariffs. The leaders had earlier agreed to another truce in December, only to see negotiations break down after Trump said China pulled back from commitments it had made.

President Donald Trump (top C) touches the shoulder of Mohammed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince (front C) when he arrives at the session 3 on women's workforce participation

Trump declared talks with China 'back on track,' and Chinese state media reported the U.S. would no longer level the threat of tariffs

Donald Trump (front C) attends the session 3 on women's workforce participation where daughter Ivanka Trump made a presentation

Trump said during a meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that talks would be resuming between the U.S. and China

President Donald Trump, right, talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over Ivanka Trump during the President G-20 summit event on women's empowerment in Osaka, western Japan, Saturday, June 29, 2019

In one odd exchange, Trump got asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments to attacking western-style liberalism, after the strongman said 'the liberal idea presupposes that nothing needs to be done. The migrants can kill, plunder, and rape with impunity because their rights.'

Trump in his answer, didn't appear to know about the concept, and instead attacked social liberals who hold sway in California.

'He’s sees what’s going on, I guess, if you look at what’s happening in Los Angeles, where it’s so sad to look, and what’s happening in San Francisco and a couple of other cities, which are run by an extraordinary group of liberal people,' Trump said.