Asia Matters for America
America Matters for Asia
Explore US-Asia National and Local Connections
An initiative of the East-West Center and Asia Matters for America partners and stakeholders
The 2020 Presidential Candidates on the Indo-Pacific resource highlighted mentions of Indo-Pacific issues by US presidential candidates and nominees in speeches, campaign documents, and debates.
To view statements by President Trump prior to his June 18, 2019 declaration to seek a second term, as well as members of his Cabinet, visit The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations.
"Democrats will take aggressive action against China or any other country that tries to undercut American manufacturing by manipulating their currencies and maintaining a misaligned exchange rate with the dollar, dumping products like steel and aluminum in our markets, or providing unfair subsidies. Unlike President Trump, we will stand up to efforts from China and other state actors to steal America’s intellectual property and will demand China and other countries cease and desist from conducting cyber espionage against our companies. And we will take immediate…
"U.S. Leadership in the Asian Pacific
We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic rim and treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand. With them, we look toward the establishment of human rights for the people of North Korea. We urge the government of China to recognize the inevitability of change in the Kim family's slave state and, for everyone's safety against nuclear disaster, to hasten positive change on the Korean…
“Mike Pence: (32:06): They have a $2 trillion version of the Green New Deal, Susan, that your newspaper, USA Today, said really wasn’t that very different from the original Green New Deal. More taxes, more regulation, banning fracking, abolishing fossil fuel, crushing American energy and economic surrender to China is a prescription for economic decline. President Trump and I will keep America growing, the V-shape recovery that’s underway right now will continue with four more years of President Donald Trump [crosstalk 00:32:37] […]
Kamala Harris…
"Kristen Welker: (09:22)I do want to ask you, Vice-President Biden, about China. Let’s talk about China more broadly. There have, of course, President Trump has said that they should pay for not being fully transparent in regards to the coronavirus. If you were president, would you make China pay? And please be specific, what would that look like?
Joe Biden: (09:41)What I’d make China do is play by the international rules, not like he has done. He has caused the deficit of the…
"Q You know, growing up here in Iowa, I have a lot of friends who are farmers. My grandma — my family owns a dairy farm. And obviously, a lot — you spoke of, today, these — these countries are going to be the most helpful. And it’s sort of been — they’re in for the — they’re banking on the long-term — long-term effects of your presidency’s plan — Trump’s presidency’s plans to benefit them, and it’s been a hard few years.
And what…
"Laura Knoy:
What about you, Governor though? What would what would your top foreign policy priorities be? Obviously, you disagree with the president. You wouldn't be running against me if you didn't. But how about you? What would you pick as a top priority?
Bill Weld:
Well, I think I think climate change is a foreign priority. You have to deal with China and the rest of the world. And that's something that has to be done. And that's an existential threat, not just to…
"The nearest-term existential threat we face today involves nuclear weapons, whether in the hands of a state or a non-state actor. Every U.S. administration since the Cold War has been determined to prevent North Korea and Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. As president, I would be no less determined. If North Korea and Iran obtain or build nuclear weapons, then it will be the fault of the United States and its partners. But we cannot wish the problem away by bullying or bluster—Trump’s modus operandi…
"THE PRESIDENT: I think so.
And also, and very importantly, we’ve taken in tremendous amounts of money in the form of tariffs from China. China has eaten the cost of those tariffs because they’ve devalued their currency and they’ve also pumped a lot of money into their system. Deflation is — we have no inflation. If anything, it’s going below the number so, therefore, we’re entitled to an interest rate cut. I hope the Fed does that because we’d be like a rocket ship. And…
Q Sir, what did you say to the Chinese about the Bidens, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. Somebody said that a long time ago. Was that in 2017? I don’t know. You’d have to tell me when. All I can tell you is this: When I speak to foreign leaders, I speak in an appropriate way. If you notice, they don’t mention the call that I had with the President of Ukraine. They don’t mention that because it was so good.
The only time…
"As the Chinese Communist Party commemorates 70 years of the People’s Republic of China by parading its military hardware in Beijing, the people of Hong Kong are struggling for their rights. For months, the world has watched as protesters in Hong Kong stood bravely in the face of police and state violence. They deserve our support.
What is happening in Hong Kong illustrates the challenge posed by China and the limitations of the United States’ current approach. In many cases, the United States will need…
China’s behavior should be a wake-up call for the United States, its allies, friends, and partners. While the United States can and must do business with China, it can have no illusions about the type of state China is and about its ambitions. It also needs to be clear that it will not accept China continuing to follow the old line, “we’re…
"PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We have some of our great farmers and ranchers and businesspeople in the room, and likewise Japan. And we have tremendous representatives — some of the biggest people anywhere in the world — what we’re going and the agreement that we just signed. And it’s an honor to have you with us. I thought you could join us for this meeting.
We’ll be talking about certain elements of business and trade, and it would be good to have…
"Q Thank you. Kristina Partsinevelos, Fox Business. I want to focus on markets, because I’ll leave it to everybody else to talk about impeachment. Markets reacted positively after you spoke about China, and that it would happen sooner than — rather than unexpectedly.
Yet, you have the Foreign Minister of China saying that they have no intention of, you know, unseating the United States. And yet, they’re investing heavily in infrastructure and military.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Not anymore, maybe.
Q But what — what is different…
"[PRESIDENT TRUMP:] In a moment, the Prime Minister and I will sign a document outlining the significant steps we’re taking toward a fair and reciprocal trade agreement. We insist on fairness and we insist on reciprocal — we want reciprocal agreements from now on because — and I’m not just talking about Japan. I’m talking about virtually every nation in the world. They have not been reciprocal. They’ve been one-way streets.
Under the market access agreement that we’re announcing today, Japan will open new markets…
"Vice President Mike Pence and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan met today at the United Nations General Assembly to discuss topics of mutual interest in advance of the two leaders of their nations meeting tomorrow. The Vice President and the Deputy Prime Minister discussed global and bilateral issues, including people-to-people ties and cooperation in space, emphasizing the new heights that the US-Japan Alliance has reached under President Trump and Prime Minister Abe. The two also discussed the positive progress being made towards a…
"Q Mr. President, you’ve mentioned — President Trump, you’ve mentioned trade. You — and Prime Minister Modi had, during the Houston event, said that you know the art of the deal. Can we expect something on a trade deal in talks today? Or what, the U.S. and India, they can do together to boost trade ties going forward?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think very soon. We’re doing very well. And Bob Lighthizer, who’s right here, was negotiating with India and their very capable representatives. And…
"Linette Lopez: Thank you, governor. So guys, business investment is down. Manufacturing is in a slump and central banks around the world are preparing for an economic slowdown. We here in the United States have already cut taxes. And President Trump has already pushed the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates which it did last week. So. How do you get the country on the right financial footing within the first 100 days. What policies do you enact? Governor you can go first.
Bill…