Vucic: I expect good relations with US, Trump victory to have healing effect on global situation

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday he expected good relations with the US following Republican Donald Trump's victory in the November 5 presidential elections, which he said would have a "healing effect on the global situation."

Responding to questions from reporters at a press conference with Czech PM Petr Fiala at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade, Vucic noted that Serbia had succeeded in maintaining a good relationship with Trump after his first presidential term.

"(This is) a slightly more favourable situation for us, but there will be no tectonic changes," he said.

He noted that he expected US pressure over Serbia's cooperation with China, which he said was seen by Washington as a "strategic opponent on the global scene."

"We will be under pressure to lower the level of our relations with PR China. That is our estimate, I would like to be mistaken on that issue, but I am afraid I am not," Vucic said.

He added that he expected the war in Ukraine to come to an end in the wake of Trump's victory.

"I am confident the US president - and I know this first-hand - will be offering and seeking solutions that will not be easy to find. The question is whether someone in Russia at this time wants the war to end," Vucic said.