Trump kicks off bid for second term

World Today

U.S. President Donald Trump has officially launched his re-election campaign. At a rally in Florida on Tuesday night, Trump said he’s turned the country around, but needed to remain in office — to make sure the United States stays on the right track.

CGTN’s Jim Spellman has details.

U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off his reelection campaign with a speech in Florida and a new-ish slogan, “Keep America great”,  but with much of the same “America First” rhetoric.

Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 next week with hopes of reviving trade talks. He spoke highly of Xi but criticized Beijing’s trade and industrial policies, while vowing to strike a better deal with China.

“They took us for suckers,” Trump said.

China did not respond directly to Trump’s speech, calling the campaign an “internal affair” of the U.S., but a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the bilateral relationship will remain important regardless of the outcome of next year’s election.

“Whoever takes office in the U.S., as long as they can get along with China in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, we will be able to continuously enhance China-U.S. trade relations,” said Lu Kang, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman.

Trump used the speech to tout his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, even as European leaders said the U.S. is driving up the risk of war.

“Its maximum pressure campaign is contributing to tensions so we want to unify our efforts so that a de-escalation process can begin,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s Foreign Minister.

Critics of the president protested the speech, and Democratic rivals were quick to attack, but the speech was meant to create enthusiasm with the president’s political base and it seemed to do just that. Trump’s campaign said it hauled in nearly $25 million in less than a day around the speech. They said that’s a record-breaking amount, but the reelection effort has much work to do. Most polls show Trump trailing democratic rivals at this early stage of the campaign.