Trump Promised China Would Increase Purchases Of U.S. Goods — We’re Going In the Wrong Direction
June 4, 2020
In response to trade data released today from the Department of Commerce, DNC War Room Director Adrienne Watson released the following statement:
“Trump promised China would make more than $200 billion in additional purchases of U.S. goods over the next two years as part of his phase one trade deal, but that’s nowhere close to happening. After losing the trade war he started, Trump settled for a bad deal and then put his personal and political interests over our public health to secure it. Now, over 100,000 Americans are dead, more than 42 million are out of work, and China isn’t even living up to its meager commitments. Not only has Trump’s deal failed to boost purchases like he promised, but we’re moving in the wrong direction. Trump got played — it’s as simple as that.”
Not only did Trump’s phase one “trade deal” fail to boost purchases of U.S. exports like he promised, it didn’t even stop the bleeding and get exports back to where they were before his damaging trade war.
Politico’s Doug Palmer: “Thursday’s trade report showed U.S. goods exports to China through the first four months of 2020 only totaled $30.6 billion. That’s about 25 percent less than the $39.3 billion exported during the same period in 2017, the benchmark year for the U.S.-China trade deal.”
China purchased $4.6 billion in U.S. farm products through the first four months of the year — Trump promised they’d purchase $50 billion a year.
Trump promised China would buy tens of billions of dollars in U.S. agriculture products ABOVE 2017 levels. Instead, purchases are already nearly $3 billion lower than this time in 2017.