Harris says Trump ‘lost trade war,’ Pence fires back by calling Biden China's ‘cheerleader’ who ‘never fought it’

Wednesday's debate between Vice President Mike Pence and rival Kamala Harris heated up as the candidates began to spar on Beijing policy, accusing each other of positions that have cost Americans thousands of jobs.

Senator Harris, Democrat Joe Biden's running mate, accused President Donald Trump of losing the trade war with China, which she said cost the US 300,000 manufacturing jobs and led to farm bankruptcies. "We are in a manufacturing recession because of it," she said.

Pence came back, rejecting the notion that the Trump administration was on the losing end of the trade spat, while taking aim at Biden for never picking up a fight with Beijing.

"Lost the trade war with China? Joe Biden never fought it. Joe Biden has been a cheerleader for communist China over the last several decades."

Pence claimed that the Obama-Biden administration lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs, and that former president Barack Obama said those jobs "were never coming back." The Trump administration saw 500,000 manufacturing jobs created during its first three years in office, before the US economy was devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

"China is to blame for the coronavirus, and President Trump is not happy about it," Pence said.

But debate watchers in China might just as well have gone to make popcorn during those tense moments, because CNN's feed was cut off, Beijing journalist Nathan VanderKlippe showed in a Twitter message.

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