Trump Says He's 'Not Losing' 2 Heartland States in 2024 Thanks to $50B Deal with China
Former President Donald Trump’s unwavering strength against China was good for America’s heartland. Now he believes those states will return the favor come 2024.
In an interview on “Life, Liberty & Levin” that aired Sunday on Fox News, Trump recalled his achievements with an eye toward a second presidential term.
The former president and leading GOP candidate boasted about bringing in billions of dollars for farmers, including those in Nebraska and Iowa, through actions he took to balance trade disparities with China.
Trump touted his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which he said accounted for the success of the U.S-China Economic and Trade Agreement (Phase One) — a deal that yielded a great deal of money for the American agricultural industry.
“President Xi was very close to me. He was right here. He was right in this room,” Trump told host Mark Levin in an interview at his Florida home that covered many topics.
“We spent a whole weekend together at Mar-a-Lago, and we had tremendous talks,” he added.
The former president said the agreement signed in January 2020 was an “incredible trade deal” but noted it was overshadowed by the sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It gave our farmers and manufacturers $50 billion. I got $28 billion cash for our farmers where they literally wrote out checks … China did, nobody wants to talk about it,” Trump said.
“That’s why the farmers like me,” he said.
“That’s why I’m not losing Nebraska and I’m not losing Iowa,” Trump predicted.
“I mean, nobody ever even thought it was possible — $28 billion I got because they were taken advantage of and hurt by China,” the former president said.
“And I got it back in the form of taxes, tariffs and other things — and with hundreds of billions left over,” he continued. “And no other president got 10 cents.”
“And yet I got along with President Xi incredibly well,” Trump said. “But I was stopping the rampage.
“It was the rape of America, that’s what it was. It was the rape of America, what China was doing to us, and we had people leading that had no clue. They had no clue.”
The former president is correct that his tariffs and other arrangements with China were a success, not only for conveying strength but also for reducing the national deficit.
That kind of expert handling of foreign policy is almost unthinkable given the state of U.S.-China relations under President Joe Biden.
China is amassing more power as it ditches the dollar as its trade currency. More troublingly, Beijing is cozying up to Moscow while increasing its threats against Taiwan — all because of an impotent America under Biden.
It’s a stark contrast to Trump’s presidency, especially when it comes to any positive movement on the national deficit.
Now lawmakers are squabbling over the particulars of raising the debt ceiling in order to stave off default, thanks to the frenzied spending under Biden that has America in a deeper financial hole by the day.
Trump wasn’t perfect, but it was always clear he was doing his level best to live up to his campaign promise to “Make America Great Again.”
A second term for him would mean another four years of a capable, patriotic leader pouring himself into that mission, flaws and all.
Contrast that prospect with four more years of Biden, who is either the least competent person ever to sit in the Oval Office or a man intent on destroying America from within.
(If it’s the latter, his re-election campaign promise to “finish the job for the American people” is a dire warning.)
Trump was good for farmers, good for the economy and good for America — and it surely won’t be forgotten in the 2024 presidential campaign.
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