Former President Donald Trump said Monday afternoon that if he is re-elected, his “first call” will be to Chinese President Xi Jinping to implement trade agreements beginning at the end of his term as the 45th president.
“The first thing I'm going to do is call President Xi Jinping and I'm going to say, 'We have to stick to the agreement. We made a deal. We're going to buy $50 billion of American agricultural products.' And President Xi guarantees that he'll buy it. 100 percent,” Trump said Monday during a campaign event in Smithton, Pennsylvania.
President Trump signed a trade deal with China in 2020 that included provisions to stop intellectual property theft, refrain from currency manipulation, cooperate on financial services, and Purchase an additional $200 billion worth of American products Includes an investment of up to $50 billion in U.S. agriculture over two years.
In exchange, the U.S. has pledged to roll back tariffs on some Chinese-made products but will maintain tariffs imposed by the White House on $375 billion worth of goods.
US and China sign historic Phase 1 trade deal
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump watches as he campaigns at Smith Family Farm in Smithton, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 2024, as he addresses Pennsylvanians concerned about threats to U.S. agriculture posed by Communist China. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The agreement, called the “Phase One” trade deal, comes in the midst of an 18-month trade war between the United States and China.
“Biden and Harris are not going to force anything… That group is a disaster. A disaster for our country in many ways, but farmers are certainly one of them,” Trump said of the current administration and the agreement.
Farm and tractor with combine harvester on Chimney Rock in Scottsbluff National Monument, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, USA. (Hawk Backman/Design Pix Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The 45th president joined a panel of farmers on Monday afternoon as part of an event for the Protect America Initiative, a group led by Trump's acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, and former New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, which works to prevent Chinese incursions into America's “farmland, food supply, education system, energy production, manufacturing chains, and national security.”
Why a “Phase One” China Trade Deal Doesn't Require Congressional Approval, Unlike the USMCA
President Joe Biden (left) greets Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) in Woodside, U.S., on November 15, 2023. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via The Associated Press, Pool, File)
In addition to calling on China to respect the 2020 trade agreement, Trump added that he would instruct Xi to implement the death penalty for dealers who transport the deadly drug fentanyl across the Mexican border into the United States.
Stock market celebrates Phase 1 trade deal with record highs
“The next thing I'll say is we have to give the death penalty to the fentanyl dealers who are smuggling fentanyl. You know, in China they have the death penalty. They don't have a drug problem because they have the death penalty,” Trump said.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump (left) addresses Pennsylvanians concerned about threats to U.S. agriculture posed by Communist China during a campaign rally at Smith Family Farm in Smithton, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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“But the second thing I want to say is, this affects you, this affects everybody,” Trump told the farm panel. “…Hundreds, thousands of people die every year. They come from the southern border. It's the most vulnerable border in history right now. It was the best border when I was there. We built hundreds of miles of wall and stuff, it was the best border. Now it's the most vulnerable. I had a handshake deal with him, and it was going to happen immediately, but we didn't do anything, he said. And he offered me this: 'Anyone who sends fentanyl into the United States will get the death penalty. They'll get the maximum penalty.'”
“He would have done that. Then there was an election that didn't go very well,” Trump added.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump (center) looks on as he campaigns to address Pennsylvanians concerned about threats to U.S. agriculture posed by Communist China at Smith Family Farm in Smithton, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
In addition to Trump, the Pennsylvania event included Grenell, Zeldin, Dave McCormick, the Republican Senate candidate representing Pennsylvania, and other political supporters.
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