WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (Aug 27) that if he was re-elected, his administration would impose tariffs on any company that leaves the United States to create jobs elsewhere.

“We will impose tariffs on any company that leaves America to produce jobs overseas,” Mr Trump said in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. “We’ll make sure our companies and jobs stay in our country, as I’ve already been doing. Joe Biden’s agenda is Made in China. My agenda is Made in the USA.”

Mr Trump portrayed himself as having been willing to challenge China on trade during his speech to the party faithful and asserted his Democratic rival in the November election, Mr Joe Biden, would not be as tough.

The former real estate developer spent much of his first term waging a trade war against China over its trade practices, technology transfer and industrial policies, imposing punitive tariffs on US$370 billion (S$504.81 billion) worth of Chinese imports.

In May, he threatened to impose new taxes on American companies that produce goods outside the United States, another move his administration could make to push supply chains away from China and raise new trade barriers.

Mr Trump made a similar comment last week during a campaign event in Pennsylvania, when he said: “We will give tax credits to companies to bring jobs back to America. And if they don’t do it, we will put tariffs on those companies and they will have to pay us a lot of money.”

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