Story highlights President Trump listed two key reasons for his change in rhetoric towards China

One had to do with North Korea and the other seemed to be his affinity for the Chinese leader

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump told Fox and Friends on Tuesday he didn't live up to a campaign promise to stare down China over manipulating its currency because, well, he got along better than he thought with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"I didn't soften my stance," Trump said. "Look, China came to the United States, the President, who I really developed a very good relationship with. I think he is a terrific person. I really got to know him very well over a two-day period. we were together hours and hours and hours by ourselves. We had a 15-minute scheduled meeting and it lasted for three hours. the same thing happened the next day. We have a good chemistry together."

It's hard to see how Trump is not changing his stance, since one of the pillars of the economic plan he released in June of 2016 called for the president to instruct " the Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator ."

That was nearly a year ago. In the interim, Trump won the White House, meaning the people he's now trying to convince — Chinese leaders — are less receptive to his threats than American voters. By way of explanation, Trump said China is changing its stance on North Korea and he didn't want to jeopardize those actions by bringing up the economic issues.

"What am I going to start trade war with China in the middle of him working on a bigger problem with North Korea?" Trump said. "I'm dealing with China with great respect. I have great respect for him. We'll see what he can do. Maybe he won't be able to help. That's possible. I think he is trying. Maybe he won't be able to help. That's a whole differential story."

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