Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
“I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday.
Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected him.
Photo: AP
“I had a very strong relationship with him,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t have to [use military force], because he respects me and he knows I’m f— crazy,” he said in the interview.
Trump, as part of his pitch to voters in the knife-edge Nov. 5 election in which he faces Democratic US Vice President Kamala Harris, has floated plans for blanket tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on virtually all imports as well as tariffs of 60 percent or more on goods from China, in measures that he says would boost US manufacturing.
During his term as president from 2017 to 2021, Trump’s aggressive approach toward China was underscored by waves of tariffs that plunged the two countries into a trade dispute that moved markets worldwide.
Trump also spoke about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, repeating his claim that if he were still in office Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have launched the invasion.
“I said to Putin, ‘Vladimir, we have a great relationship… Vladimir, if you go after Ukraine, I am going to hit you so hard, you’re not even going to believe it. I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow,’” Trump was quoted as saying when talking about a past interaction with Putin.
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