Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley pledged at Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate that she will go after China, asserting that former President Donald Trump “went wrong” on the issue.
“We’re going to go after China because China is the one sending the fentanyl in the first place,” Ms. Haley said. “And we will end all normal trade relations until China stops sending fentanyl, and then we’ll do the special operations and we’ll get it from both sides. This is where President Trump went wrong.”
The presidential hopeful said Mr. Trump focused on trade with China instead of targeting how the Chinese were buying American farmland and “killing Americans.”
She also said the Trump administration didn’t pay enough attention to the “$600 billion in intellectual property” being stolen from the U.S.
The former U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration expressed her concerns about the Chinese spying on Americans, mentioning the spy base in Cuba that Beijing has run since at least 2019 and how some law enforcement agencies have bought drones from the Chinese.
“We need to start focusing on what keeps Americans safe,” she said. “That hasn’t happened in a long time.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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