Vice President Kamala Harris accused former president Donald Trump of taking a soft tack with Xi Jinping, the leader of China, and other strongmen during Tuesday\u2019s presidential debate. Trump sought to paint those relationships as a strength, baselessly claiming that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza conflict would not have happened if he had won in 2020.<\/p>\n
Focusing her foreign policy answers by promising to stand by allies, Harris said that, as president, she would ensure that the United States retain its role and responsibility in the world order.<\/p>\n
Here is what the candidates said on foreign policy during their debate.<\/p>\n
Trump began the debate by touting his proposed tariffs on foreign nations, and claiming that China and other trading partners have been \u201cripping us off for years.\u201d Harris responded by pointing to the escalating trade deficit during his time in office, saying that Trump had \u201cinvited trade wars,\u201d while \u201cselling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump had previously called for sweeping new tariffs of at least 10 percent on imports if he is reelected, raising concerns of a trade war with China if he returns to the White House.<\/p>\n
Harris attacked Trump for praising Xi\u2019s response to the outbreak of the coronavirus, \u201cWhen we know that Xi was responsible for \u2026 not giving us transparency about the origins of covid.\u201d She was referring to a social media post by Trump in January 2020, in which he said: \u201cChina has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!\u201d The lack of clarity about how the pandemic began has long been a source of tensions between Washington and Beijing.<\/p>\n
Harris also sought to turn Trump\u2019s own remarks against him, particularly about his relationships with autocratic leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. She suggested these world leaders want Trump back in office because they can manipulate him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese autocrats and dictators are itching for you to be president again, because they know you can be manipulated,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
Trump sidestepped the question about whether he wants Ukraine to win the war and refused to say whether a victory for Kyiv is in America\u2019s best interests. He said it\u2019s in the best interest of the United States \u201cto get this war finished and just get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will get it settled before I even become president,\u201d Trump said, without providing details of how he might accomplish that.<\/p>\n
The exchanges on the Ukraine war, which has now gone on for more than two years, quickly turned combative, with Harris challenging Trump on his embrace of authoritarian leaders like Putin. \u201cIf Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now,\u201d she said, adding that Putin would be eyeing Europe next. She later charged that Trump would give up on U.S. allies \u201cfor the sake of favor\u201d from a dictator \u201cwho would eat you for lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s earlier praise of Moscow and refusal to condemn many of Putin\u2019s actions have underscored his persistent admiration of Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up, and that\u2019s not who we are as Americans,\u201d Harris said, as she highlighted the Biden administration\u2019s large military support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Harris did not stray far from the Biden administration\u2019s current stance on the war in Gaza, stating that \u201cIsrael has a right to defend itself,\u201d but that \u201chow it does so matters because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
She reiterated her support for a two-state solution, a proposal that supports two territorially distinct states \u2014 one for Israelis and one for Palestinians. She also characterized Trump as a \u201cweak and wrong\u201d when it comes to foreign policy and national security. During a heated exchange, Trump claimed, without evidence, that Harris \u201chates Israel\u201d and \u201chates the Arab population\u201d and said that if he were president, the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza would not have started.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we know is that this war must end,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThe one thing I will assure you always \u2014 I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris addressed the current administration\u2019s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan in mid-2021 by saying that she ultimately agrees with Biden\u2019s decision to pull out.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd as a result, America\u2019s taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war.\u201d The figure comes from an estimate by a team of Brown University researchers, which calculated that the total U.S. cost of fighting in Afghanistan reached $2.3 trillion from 2001-2022.<\/p>\n
She attacked Trump\u2019s self-styled reputation as a dealmaker, stating that he \u201cnegotiated directly with a terrorist organization called the Taliban\u201d and agreed to release 5,000 of its members. Trump defended his negotiation efforts, stating that his opponents \u201cdeal with the wrong people.\u201d He claimed that his administration, had it won in the 2020 election, would have withdrawn more quickly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Vice President Kamala Harris accused former president Donald Trump of taking a soft tack with Xi Jinping, the leader of China, and other strongmen during Tuesday\u2019s presidential debate. Trump sought to paint those relationships as a strength, baselessly claiming that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza conflict would not have happened if he had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}