China, in his words · 2016 campaign · № 29
Said the U.S. 'can't continue to allow China to rape our country'
“We can't continue to allow China to rape our country and that's what they're doing. It's the greatest theft in the history of the world.”
- Said
- , Campaign rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Subject
- trade deficit as theft
- Threat
- Economic threat
- Topic
- Trade & tariffs
- Era
- 2016 campaign
What the record showed
CNN reported that at the same rally he said he was not 'angry at China' but at U.S. leaders, and that he had used the same comparison in 2011. The U.S. goods deficit with China rose from $346.8 billion in 2016 to $418.2 billion in 2018, the largest in the Census series, before falling to $308.0 billion in 2020. In Beijing in November 2017 he said: 'I don't blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country to the benefit of its citizens?'