Joe Biden Criticizes Donald Trump’s Tough Tariffs on China

Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump on Monday for leveling tariffs on China.

“The president has done nothing but increase the tariffs, the debt, and the trade deficit,” Biden said in response to a question from a CNN reporter in New Hampshire.

Trump raised tariffs on some China products last week after leaders reneged on the framework for a renegotiated trade deal. Trump’s initial trade tariffs brought China to the negotiating table.

Biden admitted that China is a problem and that its “greatest violation” is the theft of intellectual property. But he argued that Trump was hurting American farmers and workers with tariffs.

“The only people paying the price are farmers and working people right now,” he said. “He’s going about it all the wrong way, a lot of bravado, no action.”

Biden did not mention that the Obama administration failed to address the trade imbalance and the issue of intellectual property during his eight years as vice president.

This month, Biden argued the opposite, criticizing Trump for trying to take care of soybean farmers at the expense of other interests.

“Automatically going out and just deciding it’s all about trade deficit imbalance and go ahead and take care of the soybean farmers in my state and here and around the country is not the way to do it,” he said in Iowa. “We need smart policies in regard to how we deal on trade.”