Trump meets Qatar leaders

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE:

US President Donald Trump met on Saturday with the emir and prime minister of Qatar -- a key ally in preserving the fragile Gaza peace deal -- en route to Asia and high-stakes trade talks with China's Xi Jinping.

The talks came as Israel conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza, despite the ceasefire brokered by the US president.

Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world's two biggest economies, and said he would also like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip.

He will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first trip to Asia since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.

Aboard Air Force One at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the regional headquarters for the US military, Trump greeted Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

"What we've done is incredible peace to the Middle East, and they were a very big factor in it," Trump said.

He did not take questions before reporters were ushered out.

Earlier, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he hoped for a "very good meeting" with Xi, adding that he expected China to make a deal to avoid further 100 percent tariffs that are due to come into effect on November 1.