US president'By Lalit K JhaWashington, Nov 14 (PTI) Donald Trump's visit to Asia hasbeen one of the most "embarrassing" foreign trips taken by aUS president as he could not demand concessions from China ontrade and failed to highlight Beijing's "unfair" tradepractices, a senior Democrat leader has alleged.
Trump, who is on a two-week visit to Asia, said in Chinathat he felt US-Chinese trade relations were "very unfair andone-sided". But he blamed his own predecessors rather thanChina for the uneven dynamic.
The comments by Trump stands in stark contrast to hisprevious rhetoric on the campaign trail, where he singled outChina as the world's greatest threat to American workers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Trump's Asiavisit "embarrassing", asserting that the president is notreadyfor "primetime".
"Without exaggeration, the president's trip to Asia hasbeen one of the most embarrassing foreign trips a presidenthas taken in my memory. It shows that when it comes toforeign policy, President Trump is not ready for primetime,"Schumer said on the Senate floor yesterday.
Trump's five-nation tour of Asia include stops in Japan,South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. He wouldreturn to the White House today.
After a campaign in which he routinely criticised China,for rapacious trading practices that have stolen American jobsand depressed American wages, Trump went to China and gavethem a get-out-of-jail-free card, the Democratic Senatoralleged.
"Instead of speaking sternly and truthfully to theChinese leaders about the realities of our imbalanced andunfair trade system, where we play by the rules, and they donot - we lose jobs, they gain them - President Trump tried toappease the Chinese and their leader," he said.
"Instead of demanding concessions on trade; instead ofdemanding the same equal access to markets we provide toChinese firms; instead of addressing the sordid history ofintellectual property theft and extortion; Trump was eager tolet China off the hook – to say it was not their fault," butrather the failure of American presidents, he charged.
"If he keeps this approach up with a growing economicpower like China, Trump will be the author of a newinternational reality: America Second," Schumer said.
Schumer alleged that after eight years of Republicansquestioning President Barack Obama's toughness with foreignleaders it seems that Trump, not Obama, is the one who'safraid to take on America's adversaries.
"For the steelworker in Ohio or upstate New York, whosejob is on the line because China is dumping cheap steel andaluminium into our markets, that's not good enough. For everyAmerican concerned about the sanctity of our elections, thatÂ’snot good enough," he said. PTI LKJUZM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.