GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday that China’s latest currency devaluation is a painful blow to America’s economy.
{mosads}The outspoken billionaire criticized Beijing, during a campaign stop in Birch Run, Mich., for devaluing the yuan.
“They’re just destroying us,” Trump said, according to Reuters.
“They keep devaluing their currency until they get it right,” he said. “They’re doing a big cut to the yuan, and that’s going to be devastating for us.
“China has gotten rich off us,” Trump added, the news service reported. “China has rebuilt itself with the money it’s sucked out of the United States and the jobs that it’s sucked out of the United States.”
China on Wednesday devalued its currency for a second straight day, with officials cutting the rate for the yuan by 1.6 percent.
“We will continue to monitor how these changes are implemented and continue to press China on the pace of its reforms, including additional measures to transition to a market-oriented exchange rate and its stated desire to move toward an economy that is more dependent on domestic demand, which is in China and America’s best interests,” a Treasury Department spokesman said on Tuesday evening after the People’s Bank of China made a 1.9 percent adjustment.
“Any reversal in reforms would be a troubling development,” the spokesman added.
Congress members are now urging President Obama to add enforceable currency manipulation into trading agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Obama may also raise the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping when both leaders meet in Washington next month.