China, in his words · 2016 campaign · № 32
Blamed China's WTO entry and 'predatory trade practices' for slower U.S. growth
“But, after China joined the World Trade Organization, our average growth rate has been reduced to only 2 percent. Predatory trade practices, product dumping, currency manipulation and intellectual property theft have taken millions of jobs and trillions in wealth from our country.”
- Said
- , Speech to the Economic Club of New York, Waldorf Astoria, New York (text as published)
- Subject
- growth after WTO entry
- Threat
- Economic threat
- Topic
- Economy & prices
- Era
- 2016 campaign
What the record showed
FactCheck.org's review of his first term found real GDP growth peaked at an estimated 3 percent in 2018, was 2.5 percent in 2019 and fell 2.2 percent in 2020, the largest drop since 2009. It noted that he had promised annual growth of 4 to 6 percent and that growth 'never exceeded 3%.' The total U.S. trade deficit in goods and services was almost $654 billion in 2020, up 36.3 percent from 2016.