A top Biden campaign official believes Trump is all “tough talk, weak action” when it comes to challenging China, touting Biden as the stronger candidate to take on the geopolitical foe.
Jake Sullivan, a senior adviser to presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden, told Reuters that Trump’s actions amount to nothing more than “tough talk” and aren’t substantiated by any real significant changes.
“It’s fine for the president to want to push China to make changes,” Sullivan told Reuters. “But you get judged not by the pushing, but by the changes.”
“The vice president intends to do two things: hold Trump accountable for a catastrophic set of failures in his approach to China, and a colossal gap between tough talk and weak action,” said Sullivan.
A Trump super PAC reportedly spent $10 million in April for advertisements in three swing states, nicknaming the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate “Beijing Biden.”
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 14: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (R) and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping shake hands before an expanded bilateral meeting with other U.S. and Chinese officials in the Roosevelt Room at the White House February 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“For 47 years the DC Elite has made one country great — Joe Biden has led the charge,” says an advertisement from the super PAC that also exhibits a compilation of clips showing Biden saying, “a rising China is a positive development” and “we’re not trying to slow down Chinese growth.” (RELATED: FLASHBACK 2011: Biden Op-Ed Says ‘China’s Rise Isn’t Our Demise’)
In recent weeks Trump has increased his harsh rhetoric aimed at Beijing and has threatened new tariffs, Reuters reports.