U.S President Donald Trump has claimed credit for preventing Hong Kong from being "obliterated" by China, saying that he cautioned Chinese President Xi Jinping not to cracked down harder on Hong Kong protestors because it would affect ongoing trade negotiations with the U.S, CBS reported.

“If it weren’t for me, Hong Kong would’ve been obliterated in 14 minutes,” Trump said during an interview with Fox & Friends.

“He’s got one million soldiers standing outside of Hong Kong, that aren’t going in only because I ask him ‘please don’t do that, you’ll be making a big mistake, it’s going to have a tremendous negative impact on the trade deal.’ And he wants to make a trade deal.” Trump added.

Trump added that “we have to stand with Hong Kong, but I’m also standing with President Xi.”

“I stand with Hong Kong, I stand with freedom, I stand with all of the things that I want to do,” the president continued. “But we are also in the process of making the largest trade deals in history.”

Trump did not give a direct response to a question whether he would sign the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was passed by the Senate with a on Tuesday.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, among those who piloted the bill, said its passing was “an important step in holding accountable those Chinese and Hong Kong government officials responsible for Hong Kong’s eroding autonomy and human rights violations.