President Donald Trump will be tougher on China than presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden when it comes to keeping them accountable for spreading coronavirus and making sure they aren't harvesting on TikTok, former Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell told Newsmax TV.
"I think that President Trump has always done what I've called the Trump Doctrine, which is to be very tough on countries, " Grenell told Friday's "John Bachman Now." "We always will have in the Trump administration a leverage point where we're extremely tough. But also, I think the Trump doctrine means that not only are you going to be very tough with these countries, but you're going to provide an off-ramp, a way diplomatically to talk."
"If the behavior changes, like President Trump has said to Kim-Jong Un in North Korea, look we have the toughest sanctions on North Korea ever, but we're going to provide an off-ramp to talk. That's I think the model, the Trump doctrine for China. Be very tough. Use every lever from the U.S. federal government that you can use to change the behavior. but if the behavior doesn't change, we have to keep upping the pressure and the leverage, and that's exactly what President Trump will do," Grenell said.
Grenell said if Biden is elected, he'll continue giving China a pass in the same way he and President Barack Obama did during his two terms in the White House.
"The new Biden doctrine will be exactly like what he did for eight years, which is to toast the Chinese. Welcome them in. Pretend like they're not a communist country that is secret," Grenell said.
Grenell shifted focus to some of the potential privacy concerns surrounding Americans who use TikTok. On Friday, Trump issued an executive order banning U.S. residents from doing any business with TikTok.
"In many ways, TikTok seems innocent .. I can appear to be very fun and simple. And so I get the frustration that people are going to have to say, 'Wait a minute. This doesn't seem like a Chinese communist plot inside my phone,'" Grenell said.
Grenell added, "But the reality is that if you are a company that is a Chinese company you don't have a choice. If the communist party wants to come in and demand the information, we know that they do social scoring for individuals and that can lead to a whole bunch of other issues. So it's the slippery slope effect,"
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