China ‘worst abuser’, ‘currency manipulator’: Trump

From Lalit K Jha Washington, Aug, 25 (PTI) Calling China the "worstabuser" and "currency manipulator", Republican presidentialcandidate Donald Trump warned that if elected, he willidentify all countries violating trade agreements and takeserious actions against them. The 70-year-old real estate tycoon-turned-politician saidhe will instruct the US trade representative to bring tradecases against China, which is also building a "massivemilitary fortress" in the strategic South China Sea. Trump said he would direct the Secretary of Commerce toidentify every violation of trade agreements that a foreigncountry is currently using to harm American workers. "China is the worst abuser," Trump said. "They have no respect for our country. They have norespect for our leadership. And we don’t blame them, we don’tblame them. We want to put ourselves in that position verysoon. You watch. And they’ll like us better than they do now,"he said. "They don’t like us. They’re building a massive militaryfortress in the middle of the South China Sea that they’re notallowed to do. "They’re doing that, and yet, they’re ripping useconomically. We have tremendous power over China — economicpower — tremendous. We don’t do anything. They build andbuild and build, and they didn’t get environmental impactstatements when they decided to rip up the sea," he toldsupporters at an election rally in Tampa, Florida. "They said — Sunday night, let’s build. Monday morning,they were digging. A little different than our country,wouldn’t you say? A little different. A little bit different,"he alleged. "I don’t think our politicians even know what’s going on.And they will stop or we’re going to take in one hell of a lotof money, I’ll tell you that. I’m going to instruct the UnitedStates trade representative to bring trade cases againstChina, both in this country and at the World TradeOrganisation (WTO)," Trump said. Trump further said he would instruct his treasurysecretary to label China a "currency manipulator," thegreatest in the world". "Any country that devalues their currency in order totake unfair advantage of the US and all of its companies whocan’t compete will face tariffs and taxes to stop thecheating. And when they see that, they will stop thecheating," he said. "China’s unfair subsidy and its behaviour is prohibitedby the terms of its entrance into the WTO, and I intend toenforce our rules. That’s all. Very simple," he added. "And they know it’s coming. They’ve called a lot offriends of mine. They know it’s coming. They say, "What do wedo? What do we do?" If China does not stop its illegalactivities — remember this. Our trade deficit with China isapproximately USD 505 billion a year," Trump said. PTI LKJ AJRSAIAJR