The Future of the US-China Relationship in Quotations: Statements made by President-elect Donald J. Trump

We have to bring back our workers. You take a look at what’s happening to steel and the cost of steel and China dumping vast amounts of steel all over the United States, which essentially is killing our steelworkers and our steel companies. We have to guard our energy companies. We have to make it possible.

—Donald Trump, Second Presidential Debate, October 9, 2016

Our jobs are fleeing the country. They’re going to Mexico. They’re going to many other countries. You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They’re devaluing their currency, and there’s nobody in our government to fight them. And we have a very good fight. And we have a winning fight. Because they’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China, and many other countries are doing the same thing.

—Donald Trump, First Presidential Debate, September 27, 2016

Our country’s in deep trouble. We don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to devaluations and all of these countries all over the world, especially China. They’re the best, the best ever at it. What they’re doing to us is a very, very sad thing.

—Donald Trump, First Presidential Debate, September 27, 2016

At the center of my plan is trade enforcement with China. This alone could return millions of jobs into our economy. China is responsible for nearly half of our entire trade deficit. They break the rules in every way imaginable. China engages in illegal export subsidies, prohibited currency manipulation, and rampant theft of intellectual property. They also have no real environmental or labor protections, further undercutting American workers.

—Donald Trump, economics speech at Detroit Economic Club, August 9, 2016

Just enforcing intellectual property rules alone could save millions of American jobs. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, improved protection of America’s intellectual property in China would produce more than 2 million more jobs right here in the United States.

—Donald Trump, economics speech at Detroit Economic Club, August 9, 2016

I am going to instruct my Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator…I am going to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO. China’s unfair subsidy behavior is prohibited by the terms of its entrance to the WTO, and I intend to enforce those rules…If China does not stop its illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets, I will use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs consistent with Section 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

—Donald Trump at a campaign stop in Monessen, PA, June 28

China is the biggest and best abuser. Mexico is a smaller version of China. . . . I do not want China to dump steel into our country. They are dumping. They are stealing our intellectual property. . . . If they do not behave, we will put tax on them. They tax us. But we do nothing about it.

—Donald Trump at a Rally in Pittsburgh, PA, June 11, 2016

I will uphold intellectual property laws and stop [China’s] unfair and unlawful practice of forcing U.S. companies to share proprietary technology with Chinese competitors as a condition of entry to China’s market.

—Donald Trump in a rally in Fresno, CA, May 27

Fixing our relations with China is another important step—and really toward creating an even more prosperous period of time. China respects strength and by letting them take advantage of us economically, which they are doing like never before, we have lost all of their respect. We have a massive trade deficit with China, a deficit that we have to find a way quickly, and I mean quickly, to balance. A strong and smart America is an America that will find a better friend in China, better than we have right now. Look at what China is doing in the South China Sea. They’re not supposed to be doing it.

—Donald Trump, “America First” Foreign Policy Speech, April 27, 2016

We desire to live peacefully and in friendship with Russia and China. We have serious differences with these two nations, and must regard them with open eyes, but we are not bound to be adversaries. We should seek common ground based on shared interests.

—Donald Trump, “America First” Foreign Policy Speech, April 27, 2016

It’s an incredible tribute to our country that we can lose billions—hundreds of billions—of dollars consistently, year in and year out—and still even survive. We have rebuilt China. We have rebuilt it. I mean, you look at what’s going on in China. We have rebuilt China single-handedly.

—Donald Trump, Interview with the Washington Post, April 2, 2016