On Sunday, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump was the first president to stand up to China’s “outrageously unfair trade practices.”

Host Kristen Welker said, “Mr. Secretary, let’s turn to China and the president’s trade war. President Trump said he had spoken directly with President Xi Jinping. Chinese officials, though, say no talks have taken place about a trade war. Can you help us to understand where this stands? Has President Trump spoken to President Xi after imposing those 145% tariffs?”

Rubio said, “Well, I mean, just like the previous answer, I am not going to commenting on who talked to who and what they talked about because this is a high stakes negotiation. The fundamental fact is this, for 30 something years the Chinese have got away with unfair trade practices ad not just unfair, outrageously unfair trade practices. Very simple, Chinese companies can do whatever they want in America. American companies can only do what the Chinese allow them to do in China and it’s very limited and every year it’s more and more limited. They flood not just us, they flood the world with exports, but they push back against any imports.”

He added, “They’ve been allowed to get away with it, and finally, almost too late really, but finally, we have a president that stood up to it. It’s not just us that needs to be standing up to it, by the way, Europe is concerned about the number electric cars China tried to dump on them. China has had trade problems with Canada and others, and this needs to stop. The bottom line is the president is dealing with something that should have been dealt with a very long time ago, and it is almost too late.”

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