The candidate is promoting currency devaluation—he should ask Argentina and Brazil how that worked out.
To hear Donald Trump tell it, China is run by a cabal of geniuses who outsmarted the U.S. last week by cutting the purchasing power of their fellow Chinese citizens with a devaluation of the yuan.
“They’re killing us. Now they’re going to take more jobs . . . I mean it’s ridiculous,” the presidential hopeful told Fox News the day after China let its currency slip a measly 2% against the dollar. The yuan subsequently lost another 1%.
Japan is also run by a band of Asian Einsteins, according to Mr. Trump. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “is a great leader,” who is “cutting the hell out of their currency, cutting, cutting, cutting.” As a result, Mr. Trump explained, “they’re back. Japan is back.”
The fast-talking Wharton alumnus didn’t say what he would do as president when trading partners announce that their currencies are to be marked down in relation to the dollar. But he suggested that devaluation is making China and Japan wealthier and more competitive and the U.S. poorer. China does it, in his view, because “they have no fear of us.”