Donald Trump On Trade: China Is Raping Our Country

Donald Trump hit China with a rape metaphor on Sunday, saying that their trade policies were ravishing the U.S. The GOP front-runner has blasted countries for stripping America of jobs with unreasonably low-priced goods before and he hopes to rectify the problem with a large tariff. A recent Rasmussen match-up poll showed he would beat Hillary Clinton by two points.

According to CNN , Trump has ripped foreign countries on trade before, but this might be a new extreme in the rhetoric.

Speaking at a rally in a rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the GOP front-runner aid, “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country, and that’s what they’re doing.”

He explained that he’s not angry with China, despite his accusations of currency manipulation, but instead explained “grossly incompetent” U.S. politicians are to blame.

Donald Trump added that we can fix the problem.

“We’re going to turn it around. And we have the cards, don’t forget it. We’re like the piggy bank that’s being robbed. We have the cards. We have a lot of power with China.”

He added, “When Donald J. Trump is president, China will be on notice that America is back in the global leadership business and that their days of currency manipulation and cheating are over.”

The New York Times reports that Trump does have a specific solution. He proposed a 45 percent tariff on goods from China and a 35 percent tariff on goods from Mexico. Still, Donald Trump specified last month in Miami that the 45 percent figure was a threat.

“It doesn’t have to be 45; it could be less. But it has to be something because our country and our trade and our deals and most importantly our jobs are going to hell.”

Raising tariffs that much, or even something less, would have enormous consequences. The NAFTA treaty would have to be gutted, and China, a WTO member, would have grounds for many legal actions that could deny U.S. companies access to the Chinese market.

Likewise, it would raise prices for American consumers, while wreaking havoc on foreign businesses.

Professor of Economics J.W. Mason explained, “There’s no way a tariff of this kind could deliver the kind of benefits that he’s talking about, and it’s quite wrong to think that the big problem for American workers has been foreign trade.”

Adding, “but I think it could be very destructive for the rest of the world.”

China has not been particularly happy with Trump’s remarks according to the International Business Times . Chinese commentator Liu Zhu wrote a piece for the Global Times calling the GOP candidate’s policies “hollow, nationalistic and inconsistent.” Officials also claim the billionaire has a “blinkered knowledge of U.S.-China business cooperation.”

Donald Trump’s wording is also coming under fire. This isn’t the first time he used the word “rape” to describe China’s trade policies towards the U.S., he also made the comparision in 2011 while touring a defense manufacturer in New Hampshire. But, this situation comes on the heels of an endorsement from Mike Tyson, who was convicted of an actual rape in Indiana, a state with an upcoming primary vote.

For most presidential candidates, the controversy and disapproval from foreign countries would be a bad thing, but Donald Trump continues to prove his exception. A recent poll from Rasmussen showed that the real estate mogul is two points ahead of Hillary Clinton, the presumed nominee from the Democratic candidate.

An aggregation of similar match-ups on Real Clear Politics has Clinton with a 6.7 point lead, promising a close race leading up to November with two candidates generally disliked according to favorable polling from the AP . As the Los Angeles Times put it “the strongest argument each can make for election is the threat posed by the other.”

The only other candidate who could win a major-party nomination is Bernie Sanders, who currently beats Donald Trump by 13.6 percent but is losing to Clinton in the Democratic primary.

[Photo by Ramin Talaie/Getty Images]