Nicholas Asfouri | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017.
President Donald Trump went after China for its trade practices once again, saying Wednesday the Chinese are purposefully going after U.S. farmers.
Trump said in a tweet: “China is targeting our farmers, who they know I love & respect, as a way of getting me to continue allowing them to take advantage of the U.S. They are being vicious in what will be their failed attempt. We were being nice – until now! China made $517 Billion on us last year.”
Trump’s comment comes after the administration announced a $12 billion bailout plan for farmers hit by tariffs on their goods. Earlier this month, China slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, one of the biggest U.S. exports to China.
Some key Republican senators condemned the bailout plan. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called it a pair of “gold crutches” to support farmers hobbled by Trump’s own trade policies. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the Trump administration was “offering welfare to farmers to solve a problem they themselves created.”
Trump seemed to rebuke these attacks, saying in another tweet Wednesday: “Every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use of Tariffs to counter unfair Tariffs, I wonder, what can they be thinking?”
The president also said that: “When you have people snipping at your heels during a negotiation, it will only take longer to make a deal, and the deal will never be as good as it could have been with unity.”
Trump also sent the tweet ahead of a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Washington. The two leaders are expected to discuss improving trans-Atlantic trade relations among other subjects.
Juncker and Trump are meeting as U.S.-European trade relations have been strained. Last month, Trump threatened to implement tariffs on European car imports. European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said last week the EU has a list of countermeasures prepared in case the U.S. moves forward with these charges.
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