During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump would often lash out at china, accusing the nation of currency manipulation, while vowing to get tough with the country over how they handle their trade deals. After a recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump refused to criticize China, which raised questions from many in the mainstream media.

Trump on China

When Donald Trump first announced his campaign for president back in June 2015, one issue that he harped on was how the United States was losing in the global trade wars, particularly against China.

The country would quickly become one of Trump's most popular talking points, as the former host of "The Apprentice" vowed to "Make America Great Again," especially when it came to the nation's reputation on the world scale. However, ever since being sworn into office back in January, Trump has backed off his criticism of China, which appeared to be disappear completely during a recent meeting with the country's president. Just last week, Trump met with Xi Jinping at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where the two now infamously shared a "beautiful piece of chocolate cake" while discussing the details of the recent strike in Syria. Due to China and the United States working together on how to handle North Korea's nuclear missile testing, Trump as been reluctant on passing judgement.

As the media continues to press the issue, Trump voiced his opposition during a April 18 interview on "Fox & Friends" on Fox News.

During a Tuesday morning interview with Ainsley Earhardt on "Fox & Friends," Donald Trump responded to the aforementioned criticism that he has gone "soft" when it comes to China.

"Ainsley, I didn't soften my stance!" Trump said, as he waved his hands in the air. "Look, China came to the United States, the president, who I really developed a very good relationship with," he went on to say.

"What am I gonna do?" Donald Trump rhetorically asked, before adding, "Start a trade war with China in the middle of him working on a bigger problem with North Korea?" Trump then continued to push back, claiming that he wasn't going to start a problem over currency manipulation when the two nations were working together on the issue surrounding North Korea.

Not stopping there, the former host of "The Apprentice" took time to bash the alleged "fake media" in the process. "This is the fake media that does a number," Trump said.

Moving forward

Despite Donald Trump pushing back and claiming he hasn't changed his stance when it comes to the issue of China, critics are quick to point out the various campaign promises that he's been unable to deliver since taking office just under 100 days ago. After only three months in office, only time will tell if Trump will continue to receive backlash due to his policy proposals and how he handles himself in the White House.
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