Clinton, Trump clash over trade deals, Isis, ties with allies

Mrs Hillary Clinton and Mr Donald Trump sparred in a fiery presidential debate early yesterday before an anticipated television audience of up to 100 million. Here are three key issues over which they clashed.

1 Trade deals

Mr Trump criticised both the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) approved under former US President Bill Clinton and the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiated by President Barack Obama’s administration.

“Nafta is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country,” said Mr Trump, referring to the tripartite deal by Canada, Mexico and the US that entered into force in 1994.

“And now you want to approve Trans-Pacific Partnership ... and that will be almost as bad as Nafta.”

Mrs Clinton was part of the Obama administration as Secretary of State, and Mr Trump said she is culpable for supporting what he said was a bad deal.

“You said it’s the finest deal you’ve ever seen,” Mr Trump said.

For her part, Mrs Clinton rebutted that she at one time thought it could be the gold standard of trade deals before negotiations finished, but became disenchanted once it was finalised.

“I did say I hoped it would be a good deal,” she said.

As Mrs Clinton defended her record, he interrupted frequently. “You haven’t done it,” he said.

“Donald, I know you live in your own reality, but those are not the facts,” Mrs Clinton replied in a measured tone and a tight smile.

“Of course, we are 5 per cent of the world’s population; we have to trade with the other 95 per cent. And we need to have smart, fair trade deals.”

2 Fight against Isis

Mr Trump hit out at his opponent’s track record as Secretary of State.

“You look at the Middle East, it’s a total mess, under your direction, to a large extent. You’re talking about taking out Isis. But you were there, and you were Secretary of State when it was a little infant. Now, it’s in over 30 countries, and you’re going to stop them? I don’t think so,” Mr Trump said, referring to the other name for the Islamic State terror group.

Mrs Clinton shot back. “Well, at least I have a plan to fight Isis,” she said, as she mocked Mr Trump for having no true strategy to tackle the terror group. She argued that air strikes against jihadists have intensified, and said Washington was hoping to push Isis out of Iraq “within the year” and “squeeze them in Syria”. “We’re making progress,” she stressed.

Mrs Clinton also pressed the point that Mr Trump’s harsh rhetoric about Muslims — last year he called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country — only enflames US adversaries. Mr Trump “has consistently insulted Muslims abroad, Muslims at home, when we need to be cooperating with Muslim nations and with the American Muslim community”.

3 Ties with allies

Mrs Clinton sought to reassure American allies that the country would honour its international commitments, saying some of Mr Trump’s comments during the campaign had startled them.

“Words matter when you run for president. And they really matter when you are president. And I want to reassure our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere that we have mutual defence treaties and we will honour them,” she said.

“It is essential that America’s word be good. And so I know that this campaign has caused some questioning and worries on the part of many leaders across the globe. I want to — on behalf of myself, and I think on behalf of a majority of the American people — say that our word is good.”

Mr Trump caused controversy earlier this year when he said that as the next US president he could withdraw American troops from Japan as well as South Korea unless they increase financial contributions to US military forces for their own defence. It was a point he reiterated yesterday.

“Just to go down the list, we defend Japan, we defend Germany, we defend South Korea, we defend Saudi Arabia, we defend countries. They do not pay us. But they should be paying us, because we are providing tremendous service and we’re losing a fortune,” he said. “I want to help all of our allies, but we are losing billions and billions of dollars. We cannot be the policemen of the world.” AGENCIES