Donald Trump butted in early during Monday night’s presidential debate to insist that he did not in fact say that climate change was a hoax created by the Chinese government in order to handicap the American economy.
In fact, in November 2012, Trump tweeted that “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
He has repeatedly said U.S. manufacturing interests have been sold out to China by “globalists,” including those perpetrating what he called the “hoax” of climate science.
Trump has often called the claim “a joke.”
“Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I’d be — received environmental awards,” he told Fox & Friends in January, according to PolitiFact.
“And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke,” he added in that interview. “But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn’t care less. They have very — you know, their standards are nothing. But they — in the meantime, they can undercut us on price. So it’s very hard on our business.”