New Delhi, Dec. 25 -- A stocking full of coal may not be so bad - that's what US President Donald Trump suggested to a young girl who told him what present she is excited about receiving this Christmas.

Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, participated in the tradition of speaking with youngsters.

Asked by an 8-year-old girl in Kansas what she'd like Santa to bring, the answer came back, "Uh, not coal."

Trump replied, "You mean clean, beautiful coal?," evoking a favoured campaign slogan he's long used when promising to revive domestic coal production, the Associated Press reported.

"I had to do that, I'm sorry," Trump added, laughing and even causing the first lady, who was on a separate ...