By Takuya Karube,
Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to "get along" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if he returns to the White House after winning the presidential election in November.
In his address at the Republican Party's national convention in Milwaukee, where he formally accepted the nomination, the 78-year-old former president threatened to raise tariffs on imports, including those from China and pledged to bring auto and other manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
Trump also vowed to end every international crisis that he accused the current administration of creating, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.
"War is now raging in Europe and the Middle East. A growing specter of conflict hangs over Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines and all of Asia," he said.
On North Korea, Trump boasted that when he was previously in office, he "got along very well" with Kim and his administration managed to stop the country's missile launches.
Trump engaged in unprecedented summit diplomacy with Kim, holding in-person meetings three times in an attempt to persuade North Korea to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"Now North Korea is acting up again, but when we get back, I get along with him. He'd like to see me back, too. I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth," Trump said, drawing laughs and applause from the crowd.
Trump's around 90-minute speech, the longest convention acceptance address in recent U.S. history, according to CNN, came as Democratic rival Joe Biden is struggling to fight off growing doubts about his ability to run a successful campaign and serve another four-year term.
While accepting his third consecutive presidential nomination by the party at an arena packed with Republicans, just days after surviving an assassination attempt, Trump called for national unity to make the United States stronger, safer and more prosperous.
In a departure from his trademark aggressive rhetoric, Trump, whose injured right ear was covered with a white bandage, said, "The discord and division in our society must be healed."
"I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America because there is no victory in winning for half of America," he said, opening his remarks with an uncharacteristically calm demeanor.
In later parts of the long speech, he repeated his claim that the country was in a far better position domestically and internationally when he was in office than it is under the Biden administration.
Trump assailed the administration's handling of immigrants, the economy and many other issues. But, in a rare move, he used Biden's name only once to criticize his policies.
"I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy. We will drill, baby, drill," to be more energy independent, he said.
He slammed China for stealing American jobs through what he views as unfair trade practices while casting himself as a guardian of forgotten communities across the United States.
At one point, he referred to COVID-19 as the "China virus."
The Republican convention fanfare, culminating with Trump's speech, came as more Democrats are calling for Biden to drop out of the presidential election race.
The 81-year-old president's mental and physical fitness has come under intense scrutiny since his shaky performance in a television debate with Trump in late June.
But the pressure Biden is facing now seems much stronger after U.S. media reports that Democratic leaders, including former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have privately told him of their concerns about his ability to defeat Trump and the risk that their party could fail to regain control of the lower chamber.
The Washington Post and other leading U.S. media outlets said former President Barack Obama, a close ally of Biden, has also told associates in recent days that the likelihood of the incumbent winning the election has greatly diminished.
In contrast with the show of unity among Republicans, there are widening divisions among Democrats, although Biden has been the presumptive nominee for months after cruising through the party's primaries with little opposition and its national convention in Chicago is just a month away.
The newspaper said Pelosi has told some Democrats in the lower house she believes Biden can be convinced "fairly soon" to withdraw from the presidential race.
Citing several top Democrats, online news site Axios said his decision to exit the race could come as early as this weekend.
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