Chuck Schumer insults Donald Trump as ‘98-pound weakling’ on China before Xi Jinping visit

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the man who co-authored “The Art of the Deal” a “98-pound weakling” when it comes to dealing with China.

President Donald Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Although the billionaire has accused China of using the U.S. as a “piggy bank” and devaluing their currency to create a trade imbalance, Mr. Schumer says it means nothing.

“One of the few hopes we had with President Trump is that he’d finally stand up to China,” Mr. Schumer told reporters Wednesday, Politico reported. “But up to now, when it comes to China, he looks like a 98-pound weakling. […] He talks a good game. He signs a couple of executive orders that mean nothing. He hasn’t saved one job — one job — that China is stealing.”

The New York senator’s jabs came as he was flanked by Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Bob Casey on Pennsylvania. Both lawmakers face tough re-election bids in states won by Mr. Trump on Election Day.

Senior White House officials told CNN on Wednesday not to expect any major changes in policy to be announced after the meeting. Instead, they plan to “set a framework” for a trading relationship moving forward.

“We don’t want to be unrealistic about [expectations],” the official said.

During Mr. Trump’s first debate with failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Republican said America was in “deep trouble” if it didn’t renegotiate its trade deals with China.

“We don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to devaluations and all of these countries all over the world, especially China,” Mr. Trump said Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in New York. “They’re the best, the best ever at it. What they’re doing to us is a very, very sad thing. So we have to do that. We have to renegotiate our trade deals. […] They’re taking our jobs, they’re giving incentives, they’re doing things that, frankly, we don’t do.”