Donald Trump revised his aggressive stance on trade with China Thursday night, by saying in the Republican debate that China would not necessarily face a 45 percent tariff on its exports to the U.S., as he has suggested in the past.
Instead, he said he would only hold open the tariff as a threat, in an effort to get China to improve their trade practices, the Republican presidential candidate explained.
“The 45 percent tax is a threat, it’s not a tax,” Trump said, referring to his past statements on the tariff. “It was a threat. It will be a tax if they don’t behave.”
In Thursday’s debate, Trump faced incoming attacks from his rivals for his stance on trade. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told the audience that “it’s you paying the tax, not China,” and calling on Trump to “get beyond rhetoric of ‘China bad.'”
Trump, however, acknowledged that he held a different view of international trade than the rest of the Republican Party, and explained that the tax would not necessarily be imposed if China improved its trade terms.
“The 45 percent is a threat that if they don’t behave, if they don’t follow the rules and regulations … we will tax you,” Trump said. “It doesn’t have to be 45, it could be less.”
He later added that U.S. jobs are “going to hell” because of Chinese trade practices. In particular, he has claimed that China, along with other countries, has manipulated its currency to make its exports cheaper.
Trump’s stance on tariffs has been the subject of controversy in the past. Previously, he engaged in a war of words with the New York Times after the newspaper stated that he backed a 45 percent tariff in an editorial meeting and he later denied doing so. Thursday night’s debate was the clearest statement of his proposal to date.
