Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday criticized Democrat rival Hillary Rodham Clinton over her trade policies, saying she would handle trade deals so badly that the country should “just cancel the election” and name him the victor.
Speaking to supporters in Toledo, Ohio, Trump said the North American Free Trade Agreement signed by Clinton’s husband, former US president Bill Clinton, had led to the outsourcing of thousands of Ohio jobs to Mexico, a practice he vowed to stop if elected president on Nov. 8.
“We should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump, right?” he said. “What are we even having it for? Her policies are so bad.”
Photo: Reuters
Trump said he believed Clinton would seek passage of the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, US President Barack Obama’s signature Asian trade deal, which she now opposes.
Trump’s remarks came as the New York businessman tries to steady rocky poll numbers amid a series of controversies and self-inflicted wounds.
He has struggled to handle the fallout from a series of accusations from women that he groped them or kissed them without their consent.
Trump has called the allegations “absolutely false.”
The latest RealClearPolitics poll average showed Clinton with a nearly six point national lead over Trump, fueled by declining support among women for the former reality TV star.
Trump has blamed his sagging poll numbers on a rigged election and said the media had fixed the opinion polls to inflate Clinton’s numbers.
Numerous studies have shown that voter fraud in US elections is very rare and a number of prominent Republicans have denounced Trump’s claim that the system is unsound.
While Trump campaigned in Ohio, a plane carrying his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, skidded off the runway after landing at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night.
There were no injuries, the Pence campaign said.
Clinton on Thursday made her first joint campaign appearance with one of her most powerful supporters, first lady Michelle Obama, at a North Carolina rally to urge young people and women to vote.
Clinton, a former first lady who lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to then-US senator Barack Obama before becoming his secretary of state, praised Michelle Obama for standing up for the rights of girls and women worldwide, drawing a sharp contrast with her Republican rival.
“I wish I didn’t have to say this... But indeed, dignity and respect for women and girls is also on the ballot in this election,” Clinton told a crowd of about 11,000. “And I want to thank our first lady for her eloquent, powerful defense of that basic value.”
Michelle Obama’s stinging denunciation of Trump after a leaked 2005 video showed him making lewd remarks and bragging about groping women was seen by many as one of the campaign’s most striking condemnations of the businessman.
Without naming Trump, Michelle Obama took him to task again in North Carolina, asking the crowd which candidate they wanted to represent their daughters from the White House.
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