Vice President Joe Biden, who is no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth, may have done it again when he hit other world powers by saying that the U.S. is the only one that is “non-xenophobic.”
Biden made the remarks at a National Association of Manufacturers event in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, calling for immigration reform and noted low replacement birthrates in other nations.
“Look at Germany, look at the rest of the world. We’re the only non-xenophobic nation in the world that’s a major economy,” Biden said.
A reporter from Detroit News wrote on Twitter that Biden called out Germany, Japan and China for being “not nearly as welcoming of immigrants” as the U.S., Business Insider reported. China, Japan and Germany are all more restrictive of immigration than the United States, both legally and culturally.
Biden, who is thought to be eyeing a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, said that China has been forced to change its “one-child policy,” and that Japan has begun focusing on increasing its female workforce. China announced changes to its one-child policy, but observers have not noticed any major reforms.
Besides calling for increased immigration, Biden told the manufacturing group that in order to “to keep [its] edge,” the U.S. needs to invest more in a skilled workforce and in infrastructure.