United States President Donald Trump has expressed regret at not being allowed to run for a third term, acknowledging the limits laid out in the US Constitution after musings about serving beyond his mandate.

“If you read it, it’s pretty clear,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday on board Air Force One while en route from Japan to South Korea. “I’m not allowed to run. It’s too bad.”

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The comments come a day after the president said he was not ruling out the possibility of seeking a third term for the White House, saying he would “love to do it”.

The US Constitution’s 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two terms, and Trump began his second in January.

Changing that with a new amendment would be a decade-long process that requires winning over states and votes in Congress.

Last week, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said a “plan” was being drafted to ensure that the 79-year-old president could run for an additional term.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday said he had discussed the matter with Trump and concluded that it would be impossible for the president to stay in the White House.

“It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows, and he and I’ve talked about, the constrictions of the constitution,” Johnson said.

Trump stopped short of characterising his conversation with Johnson, and his description of the prohibition on third terms was somewhat less definitive.

“Based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run,” he said on Wednesday. “So we’ll see what happens.”

Trump, who served his initial term from 2017 to 2021, also recently displayed red hats emblazoned with the slogan “Trump 2028” on a desk in the Oval Office.

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A popular theory among his supporters is that Vice President JD Vance could run for president in 2028 on a ticket with Trump.

Asked about a strategy where he could run as vice president and then work himself in the presidency, he dismissed the idea as “too cute”.

“You’d be allowed to do that, but I wouldn’t do that,” he said.