Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., believes he’s more closely aligned to President Trump’s position on trade with China than he was with former President Barack Obama.
“I’m closer to him on trade than I was to either Obama, a Democrat, or Bush, a Republican, because we’ve got to get tougher on China,” Schumer said Sunday during an interview with “The Cats Roundtable” on New York’s AM 970 radio station.
“They take advantage of American workers, of American wealth, of American companies regularly. I called them rapacious. If we were to squeeze China on trade, we might get somewhere on North Korea,” Schumer continued.
The White House revealed on April 5 Trump has asked his U.S. trade representative to evaluate the need for tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese goods, after announcing the U.S. would pursue tariffs on $50 billion worth of products from China.
In response, China’s commerce ministry promised to fight back against Trump’s threat of steeper tariffs “at any cost.”
The president is expected to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a historic summit in May or June.
On Friday, Kim said the hermit kingdom would suspend its nuclear and missile tests ahead of the meeting.
Schumer also answered questions about Democratic reticence to confirm Trump’s secretary of state pick, Mike Pompeo.
Schumer said he was “disappointed” that Pompeo was “unwilling” to commit to speaking out against Trump if he fired either special counsel Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
