Getty ImagesDonald Trump says China would not dare to provoke him if he returns to the White House because President Xi Jinping knows the Republican Party is “crazy.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal editorial board, Trump said that if elected president next month, he would impose tariffs on China if it attempts to block Taiwan.
“I would say: If you come into Taiwan, and I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you 150 to 200 percent,” he said.
On the campaign trail, the Republican candidate argued that America’s adversaries would not act against U.S. interests under a new Trump presidency because they would fear a forceful and even unpredictable response.
He told the Wall Street Journal editorial board that he did not have to use force to stop the blockade of Taiwan because President Xi “respects me and he knows that I [expletive] Crazy”.
“I have a very strong relationship with him,” Trump said of President Xi. “He’s actually a really nice guy, I don’t want to say friend – I don’t want to sound stupid, ‘He’s my friend’ – but I get along really well with him.”
“He’s a very fierce man,” Trump added.
The former president also spoke positively of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying: “I get along very well with him.”
But Trump, who has previously been criticized for praising the Russian leader, said he had threatened the Russian leader not to invade Ukraine.
He told the Wall Street Journal that he told Putin: “I’m going to hit you in the middle of fucking Moscow.” I said: ‘We are friends. I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice. He said, “No way.” I said, “Okay.”
“I said, ‘You’re going to get hit so hard, I’m going to take this [expletive] The dome is right over your head. Because, you know, he lives under a dome.
Trump has vowed to launch a trade war and end U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, calling his foreign policy “America First” even as critics say it is isolationist.
Republicans’ choice of J.D. Vance as their running mate shocked Ukraine’s allies because the Ohio senator is adamantly opposed to more U.S. aid to the country.
About mass eviction plans
Trump, whose hardline immigration stance was a centerpiece of his campaign, told the Wall Street Journal: “I want a lot of people to come in, but I want them to come in legally.”
Asked about plans for mass deportations of illegal immigrants, he said: “I don’t want to clarify too much because the better I get, the more illegal immigrants there will be.”
Trump also defended his “zero-tolerance” policy of separating immigrant families during his administration.
“I said, ‘We’re going to separate your family.'” That doesn’t sound good, but when a family hears they’re being separated, you know what they do? They stayed put because we couldn’t handle it.
“But interest from the heart, yes, will make a difference. I mean, there are some human problems that get in the way of perfection, and we have to have that heart, too. Okay?”
On election turmoil
The Wall Street Journal also asked about Trump’s comments this week on Fox News that the “radical left” in the United States posed a greater threat than foreign powers.
“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump told the network in an interview, referring to the “sick people, the radical left crazies” who he said could cause trouble in the election.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he cited President Joe Biden’s comments this month and said he was unsure whether the election would be peaceful. Biden was referring to Trump supporters such as those who rioted at the Capitol in 2021.
“If you were re-elected as president, of course you would rule out using the military to fight your enemies?” Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan asked Trump.
“Of course I wouldn’t. But right now, if you say there’s going to be riots in the streets, you’re going to send the National Guard in,” Trump said.
