President Donald Trump toned down his criticism of U.S. trade relations with China while on foreign soil Thursday.
Throughout his campaign Trump repeatedly attacked China for “ripping us off” and “raping” the U.S. on trade between the two countries. He promised to officially label China a “currency manipulator” as President.
But during a bilateral appearance with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in front of business leaders on Thursday, Trump bragged about his “great chemistry” with Xi and said he doesn’t “blame China” for the U.S.’s annual trade deficit with China, “a number beyond anything what anybody would understand.”
“This number is shockingly hundreds of billions of dollars each year, estimates are as high as $500 billion a year,” he said, referencing the imbalance between U.S. exports to China and imports from the country that has put the U.S. in massive debt to China— about $1.2 trillion as of August, according to experts.
“Both the United States and China will have a more prosperous future if we can achieve a level economic playing field,” he said. “Right now, unfortunately, it is a very one-sided and unfair one, but, but I don’t blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens? I give China great credit.”
Trump said the fault lies with his predecessors who “allowed it to get so far out of kilter.” Trump said he wanted to work on removing barriers to make the agreement more successful, saying the U.S. loses $300 billion a year from “the theft of intellectual property.”
“We’ll make it fair, and it’ll be tremendous for both of us,” he said. “My feeling toward you is incredibly warm. We have great chemistry. I think we’ll do tremendous things, China and the U.S.”
Back in the states, Democrats criticized Trump’s soft critique on trade, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling China’s trade policies “rapacious.”
“After campaigning like a lion against China’s trade practices, the President is governing like a lamb,” he said in a statement Thursday. “Rather than treating China with kid gloves, the President should be much tougher on China, as he promised he would be on the campaign trail.”
