Trump vs Harris debate: Kamala Harris says Putin would ‘eat you for lunch’

In a heated exchange during the presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris sharply criticised former President Donald Trump for his approach to international relations and trade policy.

In the nearly 1 hour 45 minutes of their first and potentially only Presidential debate on Tuesday night, Harris accused Trump of being overly accommodating toward authoritarian leaders, specifically targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland,” Harris warned. 

She highlighted Trump’s propensity to “give up” in the face of pressure from such leaders, describing Putin as someone who would “eat you for lunch.”

Kamala Harris also took aim at Donald Trump’s trade policies with China, accusing his administration of exacerbating the trade deficit and undermining American interests. She claimed Trump’s tenure saw the sale of American technology to China, which in turn aided China's military advancements. 

“The Trump administration resulted in a trade deficit, one of the highest we have ever seen in the history of America,” Harris said. “He ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernise their military.”

Harris stressed that US policy towards China should focus on winning the competition for the 21st century by investing in American technology and strengthening alliances. She emphasised the need for a strategic approach that supported American workers and maintained a competitive advantage in fields like AI and quantum computing.

Further criticising Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kamala Harris noted that Donald Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping despite issues with transparency regarding the virus's origins. 

“He actually thanked President Xi for what he did with COVID,” Harris said, referring to Trump’s tweet expressing gratitude to Xi, “When we know Xi was responsible for lacking and not giving us transparency about the origins of COVID.”

How did Donald Trump respond?

In contrast, Trump defended his record during the debate, arguing that his trade policies were beneficial. He asserted that higher prices would not affect Americans but would impact China and other nations. 

Trump also claimed that the current administration has continued his tariffs, leading to significant inflation. “They’re not going to have higher prices. What’s going to happen and who’s going to have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years,” Trump said. He criticised the Biden administration’s handling of tariffs and inflation, describing the current economic conditions as the “worst period of time.”

Trump defended his administration’s approach, stating that he had successfully negotiated billions of dollars in payments from other countries and maintained low inflation rates.