Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump on Tuesday over a report that revealed the Republican presidential nominee purchased steel from China instead of from the US in two of his last three construction projects.
“For all his tough talk … I’ve listened to Donald as he’s bashed Chinese. You’ve heard him,” she said at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “Well, we found out yesterday that he has been buying cheap Chinese aluminum and steel. Not buying here in Pennsylvania, not supporting our workers, but supporting the Chinese. These stories keep coming out, don’t they? And everyone makes the same point. They add up to clearly demonstrating that Donald Trump is the poster boy for so much of what is wrong in our economy.”
A recent Newsweek report detailed that Trump’s company purchased steel and aluminum from Chinese manufacturers, rather than from US manufacturers, which are largely based in the Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. CNN has not independently confirmed the Newsweek reporting.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Clinton also hit Trump on the campaign trail on Monday, where she compared the report to her own personal experience as a senator going “toe-to-toe with the Chinese.”
“It turns out he owes big money to the Chinese. So this is another one of the episodes of his reality television show, where he is saying one thing and doing something else,” she said. “I have put forward an agenda to crack down on trade abuses from countries like China, to stand up for American workers, and to rebuild American infrastructure with American materials like steel and aluminum.”