Donald Trump on Monday delivered a searing indictment of President Obama’s no-hacking agreement with China, and promised to end the negative economic impacts stemming from China’s currency manipulation if he’s elected president.
“By watching the Obama administration, you might think that nothing can be done about all this,” Trump wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “What is most alarming is that much can and should be done, but the White House chooses to do nothing to protect American workers and companies.”
The New York businessman claimed the cybersecurity agreement Obama reached with Chinese President Xi Jinping in late September is “not worth the paper it is printed on.”
“The American people need to be told the truth about our “partner” China,” Trump wrote. “If an American company wants access to the Chinese consumers, that company must share its intellectual property, a condition that violates international fair-trade standards, World Trade Organization rules and common sense.”
Trump also claims “any notion that [China’s] economy is based on a free-market system is simply not true.”
“But the worst of China’s sins is not its theft of intellectual property. It is the wanton manipulation of China’s currency, robbing Americans of billions of dollars of capital and millions of jobs,” he wrote.
Trump says his Treasury Department would “designate China a currency manipulator” on the first day of his administration should he be elected president. Such a designation would lead the U.S. to begin “imposing countervailing duties on cheap Chinese imports, defending American manufacturing and preserving American jobs.”
“Add to these actions direct and focused protection of intellectual property and we will be back on the path to being the world standard for economic liberty and growth,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s handling of China would be supplemented by his domestic tax reform plans and pledge to rein in wasteful spending. He has proposed a one-time repatriation tax of 10 percent on all corporate cash held overseas and limiting the tax rate for business income to 15 percent.
“The incompetent, rudderless Obama administration’s negligence in foreign policy, trade and national security is making America less confident, less prosperous and less safe,” Trump wrote. “The American people need an administration that will tell them the truth and a president who will put America first. That’s what I intend to do.”
