It could be a general election preview with both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden trading barbs in Iowa.
Trump slapped back at Biden after the former vice president’s claim that the Republican president is an ‘existential threat’ to democracy.
“President Trump is in Iowa today, and I hope his presence here will be a clarifying event,” Biden told a crowd at a campaign stop in Ottumwa.
The state’s farmers are being hammered by the administration’s tariff war with China, he said.
He called U.S. workers “pawns” in Trump’s “game.”
“It’s really easy to be tough when someone else absorbs the pain,” said Biden.
Trump returned fire, calling Biden a “loser” and a “dummy.”
“When a man has to mention my name 76 times in a speech, he’s in trouble,” Trump told reporters. “Now, I have to tell you, he’s a different guy. He looks different than he used to, he acts different then he used to. He’s even slower than he used to be. So I don’t know. But when he mentions my name that many times I guess I should be complimented.”
Biden criticized Trump’s “secret” Mexico deal after the president held up a single piece of paper to White House reporters, which he said contained details of an agreement between America and Mexico.
“That’s the agreement that everybody says I don’t have… I am going to let Mexico do the announcement at the right time,” Trump told reporters earlier today as he briefly waved around a folded up piece of paper. “This is one page of a very long and very good agreement for both Mexico and the United States. Without the tariffs we would have had nothing. We had nothing two weeks ago.”
“For many years, people tried to get what we got in a period of a couple of days and they couldn’t get it,” the president added. “Mexico, we’re getting along with them great.”
Biden slammed Trump’s “secret one-page agreement.”
“President Trump is bringing his secret one-page agreement with Mexico to Iowa. The Iowans being crushed by his tariffs would like to see it,” the former vice president tweeted.
Although Trump refused to open the document for reporters to see, Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford shared two close-up photos of the paper and an extract of its wording.
“The Government of Mexico will take all necessary steps under domestic law to bring the agreement into force with a view to ensuring that the agreement will enter into force within 45 days.”
Biden and Trump will be competing for the same white, working-class voters in Iowa and elsewhere who helped Trump win the 2016 election.
Iowa holds the first Democratic nominating contest next February.
Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Barack Obama carried it in both 2008 and 2012.
The agriculture industry has been hit particularly hard by Trump’s 10-month tariff war with China, and Beijing recently warned that U.S. farmers could lose access to the Chinese market entirely.
The Trump administration last month unveiled a $16 billion farm aid package to help offset the industry’s losses.
Trump’s tariffs on steel and other metals have also hit U.S. automakers, which are also concerned that future tariffs could be imposed on everything from critical technologies and components to fully assembled vehicles.
Biden hit Trump hard on China, saying the president’s policies were exacerbating the economic threat posed by the country.
“We can out-compete China every single solitary day,” Biden said.
Trump promised this week to go ahead with a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods if no progress is made with Chinese President Xi Jingping at the G20 summit later this month in Japan. Trump has said he expects to meet with Xi, but the Chinese have declined to confirm any summit.
Biden called for more investment in scientific research, infrastructure and a modern workforce to help counter China, and to build a united front with allies to challenge China’s “abusive practices.”
Biden currently leads a crowded field of Democratic candidates in major polls.