China rebuilt itself with money drained out of US: Trump
China rebuilt itself with the "tremendous amount" of money pouring out of the United States, President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday, amid the ongoing trade war between the two nations. He alleged China has been taking out $500 billion a year from the US. Trump made these comments while addressing a joint-conference with the visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House.
$500 billion would go a long way for Poland: Trump
"Over the last number of years, China has taken $500 billion and more a year, out of this country. That would go a long way for Poland, wouldn't it? You could rebuild your whole country. And that's what China did," the US President claimed.
US "piggy bank" to be "ripped off by everyone"
Asserting that US has become a "piggy bank to be ripped off by everyone", including Beijing and EU, Trump said he'd change this scenario. "I'd protect the American workers, farmers, ranchers. We're not getting ripped off anymore," he thundered. For China, however the situation has changed, he said, adding, "Our market is going up like a rocket ship. China's down 32% in 3-months."
Trump keeps close watch on trade deficits, it's "very important"
On the US-China trade war, Trump said he keeps a close-watch on trade deficits as it was "very important". "When a country has $375 billion in trade deficits, and many billions of dollars in other liabilities, one has to do something about it," he said.
Trump believes China took advantage of the WTO rules
Responding to a question on his announcement of trade tariffs against China, Trump said, "It got to a point where the numbers were too big. This should've been done for the last 20 years." "If you look at the World Trade Organization (WTO), that's when China happened, economically. It was like a rocket ship, because they took advantage of the WTO rules," he asserted.
