Trump Won't Say if He'd Rule Out War with China

 GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump says his foreign policy strategy would use "unpredictability" and "the power of trade" to keep adversaries like China in line.

As part of an extensive interview with The New York Times posted Saturday, the GOP presidential front-runner was asked about China's aggressive island-building in the South China Sea, and what the U.S. response should be.

"We have tremendous economic power over China," he said. "And that’s the power of trade."

"I would use trade to negotiate," he added. "Would I go to war? Look, let me just tell you. There’s a question I wouldn’t want to answer. Because I don’t want to say I won’t or I will… That’s the problem with our country."

"A politician would say, 'Oh I would never go to war,' or they’d say, 'Oh I would go to war.' I don’t want to say what I’d do because, again, we need unpredictability. You know, if I win, I don’t want to be in a position where I’ve said I would or I wouldn’t. I don’t want them to know what I’m thinking."

But, he said. "I will tell you this. This is the one aspect I can tell you. I would use trade, absolutely, as a bargaining chip."

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