US President Donald Trump has lavished praise on the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and blamed his own predecessors for the “huge” trade deficit between the world’s two largest economies, during his official welcome to Beijing, The Guardian reports.
Speaking on Thursday at the the Great Hall of the People, the ceremonial heart of Communist party rule, Trump paid tribute to his “warm and gracious” host, and said he appreciated Xi’s support for recent efforts to rein in North Korea’s weapons programmes.
“Trade between China and the United States has not been, over the last many, many years, a very fair one for us,” Trump told an audience of business leaders and journalists, describing the relationship as “shockingly” unbalanced and costing the US $300bn (£229bn) a year.
However, to an audible gasp from the audience, the US president went on to suggest that it was not China to blame, but the US itself. “Right now, unfortunately, it is a very one-sided and unfair [relationship]. But – but – I don’t blame China. After all, who can blame a country for taking advantage of another country for the benefit of its own citizens? I give China great credit. But in actuality I do blame past [US] administrations for allowing this out of control trade deficit to take place and to grow. We have to fix this because it just doesn’t work … it is just not sustainable,” he said.
