President Trump called Jimmy Carter to talk about China: NPR

A version of this story was published by WABE member station.

President Donald Trump has called former President Jimmy Carter for the first time this weekend.

Carter revealed this news during his usual Sunday school lesson in his original church, the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia on Sunday morning.

Earlier this year, former President Carter sent a letter to Trump containing advice on the management of US-China relations. Carter oversaw the normalization of diplomatic relations between countries 40 years ago.

Saturday night, Trump called Carter to talk about it. It was the first time they spoke, Carter said. He said Trump had told him that he was particularly concerned about how China "is getting ahead of us".

Carter said that he was in agreement with Trump on this issue.

"And you know why?" Says Carter. "I normalized diplomatic relations with China in 1979. Since 1979, do you know how many times China has been at war with anyone?" "And we stayed at war," he said. -he declares. (China and Vietnam actually took part in a brief border war in early 1979, a few weeks after the normalization of relations between the United States and China.)

Carter said that the United States was "the most warlike nation in the history of the world" because of the desire to impose American values ​​on other countries and he suggested that China invest its resources in projects such as high-speed railways rather than defense spending.

"How many kilometers of high-speed rail do we have in this country?"

Zero, the congregation responded.

"We have wasted, I think, $ 3 trillion," said Carter, referring to US military spending. "China has not lost a single cent on the war and that is why they are before us – in almost every respect.

"And I think the difference is that if you take $ 3 trillion and put it in US infrastructure, you will probably have $ 2 trillion left in. We would have a high-speed railroad. bridges that would not collapse, our education system would be as good as that of South Korea or Hong Kong, for example.

"I do not compare my country in a negative way with China," said Carter. "I was just reporting it because I received a phone call last night."

The former president said he understood Trump was worried that China would surpass the United States as the world's largest economic superpower.

"I do not really fear that moment, but it bothers President Trump and I do not know why, I'm not criticizing him this morning," said Carter, laughing to the audience.

The White House confirmed the conversation in a statement released Monday.

"President Jimmy Carter has written a beautiful letter to President Trump on the ongoing negotiations with China, and on Saturday they had a very good phone conversation about President Trump's position on trade with China and many others. topics, "said the statement, which was not attributed to spokesperson.

Most of Carter's Sunday lesson was focused on peace and kindness in front of an audience of mostly visitors, many of whom had lined up during the night for service.

Last month, Carter became the country's oldest president.