U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said his first call if elected would be to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and he would demand that Xi honors a previously struck agriculture deal.
The former U.S. president made a deal with China in his first term in tariff negotiations, which he said included an agreement by Xi to buy US$50 billion worth of American agricultural goods.
“My first call – I’m going to call up President Xi. I’m going to say, ‘you have to honor the deal you made,’” Trump said at a roundtable featuring farmers at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
“We made a deal, you’d buy $50 billion worth of American farm product, and I guarantee you he will buy it, 100% he will buy it,” said Trump, adding that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – his November election rival – had failed to enforce the deal.
The former president also said he would tell Xi to crack down on fentanyl “pouring out of China and across the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“Second thing I’m going to do is I’m going to say, ‘you have to give the death penalty to your fentanyl dealers who are sending fentanyl’,” said Trump.
Overdoses by people taking illicit fentanyl have surged in the United States and U.S. authorities say China is the main source of the chemicals used to make the drug. China denies that.
Trump added he would fight against China buying up American farmland, touted his policy of getting rid of the estate tax and stressed he would protect fracking.
China has emerged as one of the top targets in the presidential race between Trump and Harris as both candidates vow to take a tough stance against Beijing and its growing military and economic influence.
During their first presidential debate this month, Harris said Trump as president had "invited trade wars" and resulted in a trade deficit, backing the Biden administration's targeted tariffs on only certain Chinese imports – such as a 100% rate on electric cars and a 50% rate on solar panels.
She argued that targeted tariffs would bolster domestic manufacturing without causing wider economic damage.
Trump has proposed an across-the-board rate of "more than" 60% tariff on Chinese imports, and a rate of 10% – or even 20% – on all other imports, in order to revive U.S. manufacturing and reduce reliance on foreign trade.
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During the debate, Harris also took Trump to task for a response to Chinese leader Xi over the COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, while repeating assertions she made during her nomination speech on Aug. 22 that Trump liked to "cozy-up" to dictators.
Trump criticized the Biden administration’s overall record on international affairs, saying: “The leaders of other countries think that they’re weak and incompetent and they are.”
The roundtable with Pennsylvania farmers was intended to convince the key swing state voters that Trump would do more for them than Harris.
Pennsylvania has emerged as the top battleground in the fight between Trump and Harris and a state that underscores the importance of the economy in the race.
Both 2024 candidates have hit The Keystone State hard to sway voters their way, as securing the state would be a huge win in the fight for the needed 270 Electoral College votes.
Edited by Mike Firn.