US President Donald Trump said he was “very happy” with the trade war he’s fighting with China, vowing to ensure that China does not become the world’s top superpower under his watch.
“We’re taking in billions of dollars. China is obviously not doing well like us,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
Trump’s comments signal he is in no rush to get back to negotiating with Beijing after talks to end the trade conflict fell apart earlier this month. He has since raised tariffs on Chinese goods and moved to restrict Huawei Technologies’ access to the US market.
The Chinese telecom giant and scores of its affiliates have been placed on a blacklist curtailing access to key American suppliers.
China’s economy was “not great” at the moment, Trump said.
“Our economy has been fantastic. Because they were catching us, they were going to be bigger than us. If Hillary Clinton became president, China would have been a much bigger economy than us by the end of her term. And now it’s not even going to be close,” the highly controversial U.S. president said.
He also said he believed China wanted to replace America as the world’s leading superpower, and it was “not going to happen with me”.
“I think that’s their intention. Why wouldn’t it be? I mean they’re very ambitious people, they’re very smart,” he said.
Economists at HSBC Holdings in 2018 projected China was on course to be the world’s biggest economy by 2030. The nation’s gross domestic product will stand at US$26 trillion in 2030, while US GDP will rise to US$25.2 trillion, according to the HSBC projection.
The International Monetary Fund also last year said China could become the world’s largest economy by 2030.
Source: Bloomberg