US Vice-Presidential debate 2020: Trump lost 'so-called trade war' with China, says Harris

US Senator Kamala Harris said that President Donald Trump lost the trade war with China as the United States lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs. Referring to Trump's handling of coronavirus, Harris said Trump administration's perspective and approach to China has resulted in the loss of American lives, American jobs and America's standing.

"You lost it. What ended up happening because of a so-called trade war with China? America lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs," Harris told Mike Pence during the first vice-presidential debate on October 7.

The Republican leader shot back at Harris, calling White House hopeful Joe Biden as "cheerleader of communist China" for years. "He never fought a trade war." After a prolonged trade war, the United States and China signed the Phase 1 trade deal in January 2020 and recently, Senior US and Chinese officials reviewed the deal and raise grievances amid deteriorating Sino-US relationship.

China had agreed to increase the purchase of US goods by $200 billion, including agricultural product, energy, and manufactured goods, among others. However, China is far behind in meeting the first-year goal of a $77 billion increase and has purchased only 5 per cent of the energy products needed to meet the goal of $25.3 billion in the first year of the Phase one deal. Trump has threatened to end the trade deal over China’s handling of coronavirus and crackdown in Hong Kong using the national security law.

Harris on coronavirus response

Appearing for the first vice-presidential debate, Harris called COVID-19 response under the US President as the “greatest failure” of the presidential administration in the history of the United States. Joe Biden’s running mate said that the failed coronavirus response has claimed over 210,000 lives, raising questions over Trump’s alleged disregard for science and facts. She added that Americans have sacrificed far too much because of the "incompetence of this administration."

"The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country," Harris said.

"If the public health professionals, if Dr Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I'll be the first in line to take it absolutely, but if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I'm not taking it," Kamala Harris said on the vaccine.

The United States has reported over 211,000 coronavirus-related death and more than 7.5 million COVID-19 cases as it remains the worst affected nation in the world. Pence acknowledged that the United States has gone through a very challenging time in 2020 but stressed that Trump has prioritised the health of Americans from the beginning. The 61-year-old Republican said that the US President, in an unprecedented manner, suspended all travels from China, the second-largest economy in the world, but the action was criticised as “xenophobic and hysteric” by Biden.

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Pence hails travel ban

The Vice-President, who also led the White House coronavirus task force, insisted that Trump’s decision to ban travel from China bought invaluable time and saved “hundreds of thousands of Americans lives”. Pence also blasted Harris for questioning the safety and efficacy of a vaccine released under Donald Trump, accusing her of undermining public confidence in a future coronavirus vaccine. 

"The fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine, if the vaccine emerges during the Trump administration, I think is unconscionable," Mike Pence said.

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