Trump hints he is open to lifting sanctions on Russia

US President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that he is open to lifting sanctions on Russia, but plans to keep them in place “at least for a period of time”.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that he might lift the sanctions if Russia helps the US with its fight against terrorism or with other important goals.

“If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?”

A Senate inquiry has been launched into allegations that the Kremlin ordered a hacking operation against the Democratic Party to help Trump win the US election last November.

Trump said he was willing to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin – who he has called “very smart” – after he moves into the White House on 20 January.

“I understand that they would like to meet, and that’s absolutely fine with me,” he said.

When asked if he supported the US “One China” policy on Taiwan, which says the province is part of China, Trump responded, “Everything is under negotiation, including One China”.

Trump caused offence in Beijing when he took a congratulatory phonecall from Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen in the wake of his election victory, in breach of the One China protocol.

During the election campaign, Trump said he would label China a currency manipulator on his first day of taking office. The yuan has steadily fallen against the dollar in recent years, and Beijing has been accused of deliberately devaluing its currency to gain a market advantage for its exports.

Trump told the WSJ that he would stop short of officially branding China a currency manipulator but criticised Beijing’s financial polices and said: “Certainly they are manipulators”.

“Instead of saying: ‘We’re devaluating our currency’, they say, ‘oh, our currency is dropping’. It’s not dropping. They’re doing it on purpose. Our companies can’t compete with them now because our currency is strong and it’s killing us.”