Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a recent interview "he is not a king" one day after millions of people across the U.S. participated in rallies denouncing what they view as authoritarian tendencies and unbridled corruption of his presidency.
Since Trump took office 10 months ago, his administration has ramped up immigration enforcement, moved to slash the federal workforce and cut funding to elite universities over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies.
During the Fox News interview, Trump also discussed the state of trade negotiations with China in response to a week of fractious back-and-forth between the U.S. and China . Trump responded to new export controls on rare earth minerals from Beijing with the re-imposition of 100% tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S.
"They forced me to charge them what is the equivalent of 155 to 157%." adding "but, look, they have a very smart leader, and I think we have a leader that wants to make a deal because I think that's smart, and he's smart."
Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October.
