Trump Threatens China ‘Nicely’ on Import Tax

Real estate magnate Donald Trump on Tuesday outlined his plan for dealing with Chinaif he were to be in a position to do so.

Donald Trump
Timothy Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Donald Trump

If Trump were to run for President - and that remains a big 'if' - and win - which is an even bigger 'if' - a Trump White House would deal with China in the following ways.

"I would tell China, very nicely, fellows, you are my friend, I like you very much. I've made a lot of money on China by the way, a lot of money with China. I would say we are going to put a 25 percent tax on all your products coming in, and that's going to do a number of things," Trump said.

"Number one: as soon as they believe it's going to happen, they will behave so nicely, because it would destroy their economy,” said Trump in an interview with NBC’s Today show on Tuesday.

Playing up to voter fears on the loss of jobs to China, Trump said the transfer of cash to the Chinese was down to Beijing’s controversial currency peg.

"When you see what China is doing to us, what we're going to lose this year, $300 billion to China. And they are taking all of our jobs, and they are doing it through manipulation of their currency," Trump said.

Trump also criticized Saudi Arabia and OPEC, which have said theoilmarket is oversupplied and cut back on supply despite oil prices sitting well over 100 dollars a barrel.

"OPEC is sapping our strength, we can't pay 108 dollar a barrel oil, it's sapping our country, and by the way, they are going to raise it higher, because now Saudi Arabia said there's plenty of oil, we're going to cut back," Trump said.

As US treasury secretary Tim Geithner told CNBC that Congress would agree on extending the debt ceiling following S&P’s cut in America’s debt outlook, Trump outlined how he would deal with America’s soaring deficit.

"I wouldn't raise it," he said. "You're going to have to make a (political) deal some place. You might as well do it right now. I'd do it right now. I'd stop it right now," he said.