After years of tough talk, President Donald Trump is set to meet face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago Thursday evening.
In fact, “tough talk” may actually understate the severity of Trump’s rhetoric against the country over the years. Pledges to stand up to China on issues such as currency manipulation and trade were a hallmark of his campaign.
But years before he even entered the race for the Republican nomination, Trump made headlines for one particularly blunt statement in regards to China.
Outlining how negotiations with the country might best be handled, Trump said at a speech in 2011 that “it’s really the messenger” that makes a difference in brokering for America’s interests. Rather than meekly saying, for instance, “we’re going to tax you at 25 percent,” Trump suggested a better strategy would be to tell China, “Listen you motherf——-s, we’re going to tax you at 25 percent.”
At the time, Trump criticized the Obama administration for throwing China a state dinner while they were “screwing” the United States.
“We sit down for my office for a couple of hours,” he explained, detailing how he would have handled negotiations. “We either make a deal where you stop manipulating currency or not. If we make a deal you can have a state dinner if you want. If you don’t make a deal, you take McDonald’s and you go home.”
The two presidents are expected to discuss issues ranging from trade to North Korea over the course of their two-day summit. Whether Xi leaves with a Big Mac, however, is yet to be determined.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
