Atop new poll, Trump slams China, OPEC and Obama

Donald Trump

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Call it the Trump Doctrine.  The next time America is called upon to act as global  policeman, expect a bill from Uncle Sam.

Donald Trump

Property developer, reality TV star and would-be Republican  presidential candidate Donald Trump says he’d apply his  business acumen to geopolitics if he wins the White House.

A cultural phenomenon known as “The Donald,” Trump is  leveraging his reputation as a showy business mogul to set up a  possible run for president.

Some of Trump’s proposals fall way outside the political  mainstream. But his message that America needs radical change  draws support from some voters dismayed by diminished economic  prospects at home and growing challenges to U.S. power abroad.

Yesterday, he jointly topped a poll of would-be Republican  hopefuls in the nascent 2012 White House race.

For many Americans, Trump is the larger-than-life property  mogul who ends each U.S. episode of the TV show “The  Apprentice” with the catch phrase “You’re fired.” On foreign  policy issues, Trump is just as blunt.

Under a President Trump, China would be forced to end  currency manipulation or face a 25 percent tariff on all  exports to the United States. OPEC oil-producing nations would  have to drop the price of a barrel or oil to $40-50 or face  America’s wrath. And Arab nations and South Korea would pay for  benefiting from America’s military might.

He singled out the recent trade pact with South Korea,  signed after a military showdown with communist-ruled North  Korea, saying it was a “joke” with insufficient benefits for  the United States.

“We go over there, we protect them, we protect them with  our ships … Did anyone pay us for this? No! So, what is  happening is mind-boggling.”

Trump also took aim at the Organization of the Petroleum  Exporting Countries.

“OPEC will cut the price of oil, and if they don’t they’ve  got problems,” he said. “We are protecting Saudi Arabia free of  charge. The Arab League asked us to go into Libya and we go in  and we don’t say, ‘Are you going to pay for it?’“

“I would tell (OPEC) that oil is not going to $150 a barrel   … it’s going to be at $40-50 a barrel.”

On China, Trump accused Beijing of manipulating its yuan  currency, contributing to a U.S. trade deficit that was  unacceptable —  it was $18.8 billion in February alone.

“I would put a 25 percent tax on all goods coming in from  China to the United States and I would do it without  hesitation,” Trump said.

THE GREAT
FALL OF CHINA?

Economists concerned about the U.S. trade deficit with  China say upsetting Beijing could prompt the Chinese to buy  less U.S. debt, which in turn would increase U.S. interest  rates and make credit here more expensive.

Trump sees it as global test of wills.

“If we stop buying from China, China will go down like no  other country has ever gone down before,” he said. “China needs  us more than we need them.”

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released on  Tuesday showed Trump and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee  led a poll of would-be presidential contenders with 19 percent  each — a doubling of Trump’s support since mid-March.

Trump has been on a media blitz for weeks, claiming that  U.S. President Barack Obama was not born in America and  therefore cannot legally hold the presidency — an allegation  that has been widely dismissed.

“I do find it amazing how the media protects Obama on his  birth certificate,” Trump offered without prompting.

As to how much he would spend on his campaign, the man who  ranks 488th on Forbes magazine’s 2010 list of the world’s  billionaires with an estimated net worth of $2 billion said, “A  lot … whatever is necessary.”