Tue 08 September 2020:
Trump, under fire for allegedly disparaging soldiers, argues Biden’s policies would cause higher taxes, economic losses
US President Donald Trump said Monday if Democratic rival Joe Biden becomes the next president, his policies would hurt the American economy and hand it to China.
“If Joe Biden becomes president, China will own the United States, and every other country will be smiling also,” Trump told a White House news conference marking the US Labor Day holiday, less than two months from Nov. 3, the US Election Day.
Trump claimed that Biden, who served as vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, wants to surrender the US to China and to the coronavirus, which the president calls “the Chinese virus,” referring to discredited conspiracy theories.
Trump’s response to the virus has been criticized by the Democrats as disorganized and anemic, resulting in nearly 190,000 deaths, the world’s largest death toll.
“I have taken in billion and billions of dollars from China and given much of it to farmers, manufacturers and the US Treasury,” said Trump, referring to a trade war with China resulting in tariffs on goods paid for by US consumers.
“They targeted our farmers and I targeted them. I gave $28 billion to our farmers. There has been no country anywhere at any time that ripped us off like China has.”
He added: “We’ll prohibit federal contracts from companies that outsource to China, and we’ll hold China accountable for allowing the virus to spread around the world,” he added.
Trump claimed Biden’s economic policies would cause tax increases of trillions of dollars, ending economic growth and resulting in “total contraction.”
He also targeted the Democratic Party, claiming its members’ economic policies weakened the US labor force over the last decade.
“You spent 47 years sending American jobs to China, Mexico and other countries while collecting millions of dollars in campaigns and super PAC contributions from global corporations and got rich by making American workers poor,” the president said.
By Ovunc Kutlu | Anadolu agency
