Trump says he prevented wars using trade as leverage during first term

Washington: Former President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he prevented the outbreak of war during his first term in office by employing trade tools to put pressure other nations.

"I've stopped a lot of wars from starting," Trump said during remarks at the Detroit Economic Club. "I was very proud of that. I use trade. I threatened trade. I'd say you're not going to do business with the United States."

Trump also highlighted his work to stabilize the Middle East through the Abraham Accords, a set of bilateral Arab-Israeli normalisation agreements brokered by his administration.

Trump has stated many times that he will be able to resolve the conflict in Ukraine quickly as president-elect if he wins the November election.

Trump said his first two phone calls would be to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymr Zelensky.