robert: it's backn. president trump will head to singapore to meet witthe north korean leader. i'm robert costa. we discuss the diplomatic drama and new tariffs spark trailed tensions. president trump: i've never said it happens i one meeting. you're talking about years of hostility, years of problems. years of really hatred. and i told him today, take your time. nbert: a week after canceling a summits withorth korea, president trump announces the meeting with kim jonun is back on. president trump: we'll be meeting on june 12 in singapore. robert: both the president and secretary of state say they are confident talks with north korea over nuclear weapons are moving

in the rightir dection. we report on the latest twist in the high-stakes negotiations. plus, economic uncertainty as the u.s. slams new o tariffsn steel and aluminum imports from europe, canada, and mexico. we discuss it all with peter peter "the new york times," mitchell mitch of nbc news, and na thomas of -- mitchell mitch of nbc news and that you know - that you know shawna thomas of vice news.>> his is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by -- >> the leadership is instinctive. they understand the challenges of today. and research the technologies of tomorrow. some call tm veterans. we call them part of our team.

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the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbson administrarom viewers like you, thank you. once again, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. just one week after abruptly canceling a meeting with north korean leader kim jong-un, president trump announced the june 12 summit is a go. on friday, he met with north rea's former spy chief at the white house. the huddle was the culmination of this week's days earlier secretary of state mike pompeo hostinga dinner with him and other officials in new york to continue the rapid fire diplomacy that ban -- began almost as soon as the president pulled out of the planned summit last week.to y the perspective lowered expectations. president trump: iever said it's going to go in one meeting. i think it's going to be process but the rhythms are

building. robert: peter, he's talking about the beginning o a process. if this is just the start of a longce p, what does success look like on june 12? peter: that's a great question. now we're looking at june 12 as a gets to know you plus meeting that's what he called it. they were trying to dowlay expectations because i think it's become clear to them thats ther such thing as a straight line when it comes to north korea and hey that didn't want to have expectations so high thatey when came out of singapore without a document that it looked like a failure. robert: what document could come out of this? the president mentioned there could b an end to the long korean war. andrea: indeed,nd one interim stem might be establishing intersections that would not be an end to the war yet,ho ah he did tee that up, but it could

be the beginning of stems toward that. intersectionsld we what we had with cuba for decades where you can do spying, you can do everything you can do at an embassy except have formal recognition. ait would give u much easier way to vify whether they're complying and also a wilddo w into washington. robert: what do you make of secretary pompeo. he's with the president, nothn olton. shawna: in some waytethe s department should be taking a lead on this. in a more normal proce of this kind of negotiation, a lot of what we've seen as back and forth would have happened behind closed doors but it would be the statement department figuring out what does denuclearization means. en though pompeo is pretty

much a hawk as well, it's a somewhat good thinghat the guy who's in charge of the state department is the one w is i some ways representing america in that room along the president trump. andrea: john bolton, the national security advisor was noticeably an sent. today he was not in the oval office or nowhere to be seen and it is, i'm told, precisely because he spoke of the libyahi model, almost derailed this whole thing. so did mike pen and he was not in the room. pompeo has street yesterday with the president because he was the cis briefer before he became the secretary of state. so he is a hard liner but hesos ery invested in this and i think he's correctly taken stock of the president's interests in legacy. he's going to do something that no other president has been able to do and if they can verify it

and if he now has a lowered expectation thago it'g to take a while. st not going to be one summit two or three. he might stay longer in singapore. he might be able to do something that barack obama never acleaved or really. attempt that george w. bush fried ask failed at and that bill clinton, st importantly tried to achieve but didn't. robert: a what are the signals, know, that kim kim is send top ing he's sending his guy to talk to the president. what has he done to show any kind of commitment to these talks? shawna:op sending his guy is one way. the fact it still s ms the were talking. you have a team of people insi apore still trying to figure out what happens on june even though last week we all got

into a frenzy and president trump said he's not going to tually go to the summit. he sent the letter, that whole thin it seemed like behind the scenes, people justept going. peter: the president said twoin in particular that were noteable and different. where yed one of them, there is going to be a process. take your time, hex.a ek ago they were saying it had to be rapid denuclearization. it's a big change.e her thing was, i don't like to use the phrase "maximum pressure," he said. that was his phrase. what he's signaling is we may not be takinanions off but we may not be enforcing the ones we have on all that vigorously. a letting up of the pressure. robert: what's driving-u kim jo at this moment? sit china pushing him to the table?

the sanctions crib -- crippling his economy? what's patrolledingim to giv the letter to drive this moment? peter: by most accounts, he wants to bring his backwards country into at least a little bit more of an economic prosperous place.e you the satellite notes where the north is completely dark whereas the south is lilt. he steams to be concerned about finally trying to bring it out of that backwards aerial and the nuclear weapons prom is his playing card. andrea: kim young chol had to get special permission to even set foot in the united states and then to come to washington. the visit is in sharp contrast to the only previous visits tt the level in the overwhelm office, which was with bill clinton in october of 2000, setting up madeline albright's terrorism 10 daysater.

it was the red carpet today. the south port come. reporters and photographers positioned to catch a glimpse of themalng down the salon ice. shaking hadgeds. and then the respect of walking him out to his motor caile taking still photos with the rest of his delegation, posing fo pictures and praising him so warm limb..s robert: the is giving kim respect, as peter wasaying. what do u.s. allies, what does the rest of e wor say? if this meeting happens on june 12 and he doesn't commit to denuclearization but he now? is engaging with the world -- >> south korea and japan say if he didn't agree to dee nuclearization, i tnk they say you got played to a certain stefpblet. i think the rest of the world is just going to sit and watch

betouse they don't wan be played by north korea. in some ways this was half a win oday for the north koreans and if that -- handshake and phograph happen on june 12 in singapore, that's almost a full win for north korea. andrea: he o rann this program and quickly met with kim jong-un this past weekend to put it back together. that was a littlein wor to the american side. they thought maybe moon is too much joining kim jong-un but the japanese are very. nervo robert: the president seemed nervous about russia's involvement with kim jong-un. >> he was ry movied that the russian ambassador met with him. robert: what was it about? >>ouan assume it wasn't friendly. they did it without communication with the united statesnd they have their own interests in preventing a win for the united states.

vladimir putin sees global diplomacy as a zero such win. if by we win, theyose. the other thing, this is from the president. one of h strengths and weaknesses, sometimes the same thing, is his lack of fitm cont to particulars on any policy, right? unlike i sacks isom of his principled says -- unlike, say, some of his predecessors what got locked in. he's very capable of creating a deal that doesn't comport with what he's said in the past and doesn't worry he'll be called inconsistent. that gives him some flectsability in a negotiation. andrea: i think that's exactly right and also, peter's points about what kim jong-un gets ts of this he adult dulls wants to turn the lights on. and i was in new york when secretary pompeo pointedly showed the ambassador the vista

of the skyscrapers, manhattan. they wanted to show off the white house. the rest of the churn is -- country in north korea is baron. i can't describe what it was like to drive from pyongyang a number of years a and drive down to the d.m.z. and seees al lands what looks like feudal peasants hoeing with non- commitment.ed -- equipment. nece basically nothing. robert: the rest of the world is watching and also watching on trailed. new tariffs the president has imposed on aluminum and steel imimportanted from europe came about with new policy this week. canada and mexico are looking at new polici from the u.s. the move comes from the president as theio administr is also pressuring china. the american allies thi week immediately pushed back,

threatening retaliation on measures targeting american products. it's raising concern, concern on capitol hill. the president originally imposed the 25% o tariffn steel and 10% on steele aluminum in massachusetts. the exemption for mexicoas now expired. shawna, vice news has been talking to voters in the midwest andce other paround the country. we always talk about trade west virginia but how is it affecting those who are the country running businesses and farms? shawna: back in march with we were with in illinois for although although another story, we talked with a farmer, a trump s aporter. haarm with a lot of dairy cows and a couple of other things. he said he still supported president trump despite the fact that there was this, are we going to get more tariffs from commine and the e.u., that whole

thing, but he was able to sort of basically convince himself that president trump h a match plan. he probably doesn't realize how this affects farmers so people need to tell him how it affects farmers but once he finds that out and once we all see what the plan is, things will be fine and stay on predent trump's side. it's interesting that if yout suppm, you're able to come port hiso actions i something that is believable that is supporting you. robert: the president had goodu jobsrs on friday for the u.s. economy, even some republicans and advisors are saying hold off. peter: some republicans are hiying this is going to hurt us. all thes you're bragging about the economy now are atu risk if et us into a sustained and escalating trade war. the republican party, their orthodoxfor decades has been

free trade, free trade. testify -- we have focused some in recent years on the losers of free trade and their stories have ctivated politicians like president trump and a lot of democratt you flip t around, there are a lot of winners inifree trade. they suddenly become losers,ing the be interesting to see how that changes the dynamic. andrea: i was with some farmers on capitol hill getting killed by and it are very concerned about the thata negotiations. which had real -- reached a critic point. pressure by this separationad god gotten mexico and canada to comet to the table. then it got blown up. justin trudeau slammed them about this personal statement. robert: he said canada has been one of america's most steadfasts allies,ved along america in

two world wars, the korean war. weo avelieve at some time prevail.mon sense will powerful word from the prime minister. andrea: they were in afghanistan and nato. there is so much anger and you talk to koran bury grewers in massachusetts. yes, that's a democraticate, a blue state but floret the midwest, you'll hear real pushback. the all the industry i get killed at this. we should be hit hello at china for its unfair trade practices but we're really blowing ourselves u i the art -- argument. robert: democrats trying to seem ra be trying to steal back in pop allowsed pitch from president trump. shawna: i think if thisctually becomes a trade war, you will. my guys in illinois said that when we were there even the conversation around nafta and the threat of these tariffs, he was like i have lost money

today. he was like,ors look at my field, wi knowt i've planned. i've already lost money becauea of the t of this money. andrea: keep your eyes on the all the industry. the midwes, where t election was won and lost by the democrats. they're really going to hit hard. robert: we talked about bolts within northor. him not being in the room says a lot. peter navarro on trailed. pushing the administration to take a harder stanc on china and the e.u. peter: he has and they're very divided on this. you see this every day, the thritch floppy equal. todayhe trade war is off, on hold. they're day suddenl going back on it wholesale. they're supposedly at odds sexrnings have had shouting matches. there really is a -- anied long

cal divide betwe traditional businesses type, and fundantal believers in the orthodoxy of the party and then thee populou, nationalist side that believes the other side has been l wrongoing back to the 1990's. robert: the president said that he wants to cut bilateral deals with canada, wit mexico, with the e.u. is this what we should expect? andrea: i don't see any chance n thata is now going to negotiate with the u.s. bilaterally. they are so angry with the u.s. this is a deeply painful slam. his red rick against mexico has been so profoundly disagreeable. we s a very sharp statement from the president of mexico a a be the wall. because he was in -- and the president tweeting they're paying for the wall and nietoee ng no, we're not.

peter: the conference is i mexico. the germans, british, and japanese will also be there. there's a lot of tension dom -- coming into that meeting and they're already on edge r the pping up of the iran deal. this is going to a -- be a big meeting full of possible tensions. shawna: i believe the countries withinhe effort u. can't unilaterally negotiate withyws . they have to do it as one bloc. andrea: what we got out of was also whi hillary clinton's position. he said we're going to have all of these bilateral negotiations. none of which has happened. mean china moving in and making their own deals. so we've created a huge vuum to a big disadvantage to american business insia.

robert: you have the brexit sentment still in the u. can. they're not functioning at a total contine either. peter: absolutely, europe is really on edge about this italy thing. we've heard nothing from the adnistration about it. in the past, when europe was on the edge, obama and bush speak out. there's no i interest,t seems like, in this white house and it has a huge impact on because if europe issued lynn tanks economically, have a big impact on us. robert: how does this play in the mid terms? trailed? shawna: if you've seen people in the me. who have actually felt the pain on this because that's what they vote on. if there are people in the mets who thought president trump was going to bring them something and they blame him for their

farms not making as much money, then i think republicans will probably suffer. robert: with shall see. we'll see what happens, as president trump would say. thanks, everybody. we have to leave you a few minutes early tonight so you can support your loam pbs station. they truly support "washington week." we thank you and them. our conversation wil continue on line on the "washington week" extra, where we will talk about puerto rico's recovery and presidential pardonens. you can find tt later tonight at pbs.org/washington week. i'm robert costa. enjoy your weekend. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> their leadership is instinctive.

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