At campaign rally, Trump steps up attacks on Biden over China
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[September 09, 2020]
By Jeff Mason
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - President
Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his efforts to make China a central
theme of the U.S. presidential race, accusing Democratic rival Joe Biden
of being a “globalist sellout” who helped engineer the widespread loss
of American jobs.
“Joe Biden’s agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A,”
Trump said while speaking to thousands of supporters at an outdoor
campaign rally at the airport in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
China has emerged as a flashpoint ahead of the Nov. 3 election, with
Trump repeatedly accusing Biden of long supporting trade policies that
led to the offshoring of domestic jobs.
"Biden is a globalist sellout who spent his career laying waste to
American communities," said Trump, who trails his opponent in national
opinion polls.
Biden in turn has criticized Trump for punishing U.S. farmers and other
industries with harmful tariffs on Chinese goods.
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The former vice president has also blasted Trump’s trade deal with China
as not delivering the benefits to U.S. industries the president
promised, saying last month it was “failing – badly.”
North Carolina is a key swing state prized by both the Biden and Trump
campaigns, one of a handful of states that could determine the election.
It is also one of many states that have seen its manufacturing and
textile industries migrate to China and other Asian nations over the
past 25 years.
The visit on Tuesday marked Trump’s second in less than a week, as Trump
has stepped up campaign travel with less than two months to go to the
election.
The president’s campaign has also accused Biden and his running mate,
Senator Kamala Harris, of opposing his administration’s efforts to
fast-track a vaccine for the coronavirus, which he said was coming
“very, very soon.”
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![](../images/090920pics/news_g15.jpg)
Supporters cheer as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a
campaign event at Smith Reynolds Regional Airport in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, U.S., September 8, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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"They’re trying to disparage it,” Trump said. “They’re trying to
make it politics.”
Biden has charged that Trump is himself politicizing the issue to
help his re-election, saying on Monday that with the president's
history of misstatements regarding the pandemic, which has killed
more than 186,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs, his
assurances about the safety of such a vaccine could not be trusted.
Prior to the Trump rally, Biden’s campaign called for any vaccine to
be produced and distributed following established scientific
standards without outside political interference.
At the rally, Trump also stepped up his criticism of Harris, the
first Black woman and first Asian-American on a major-party U.S.
presidential ticket, in language he has used to describe other women
candidates.
“Nobody likes her. She could never be the first woman president,”
Trump said. “That would be an insult to our country.”
The Biden campaign declined a request for comment on Trump’s
remarks. Biden held no formal campaign events on Tuesday but will
give remarks in Warren, Michigan, on Wednesday concerning U.S.
manufacturing jobs.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason in North Carolina; Writing by James
Oliphant; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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