US a 'developing nation', can't fund subsidies to India, China: Trump

Chicago, Sep 8: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he wants to end the subsidies that growing economies like India and China have been receiving as he wants the US, which he considers as a "developing nation", to grow faster than anybody.

Addressing a fundraiser event in the Fargo city of North Dakota, he also accused the World Trade Organization (WTO) of allowing China to become a "great economic power".

"We have some of these countries that are considered growing economies. Some countries that have not matured enough yet, so we are paying them subsidies. Whole thing is crazy. Like India, like China, like others we say, 'oh, they're growing actually'," President Trump said.

He said that they call themselves developing nations and "under that category they get subsidies."

"We have to pay them money. This whole thing is crazy, but we're going to stop it. We're going to stop it. We have stopped it."

"We are a developing nation, too, OK? We are. As far as I'm concerned, we are a developing nation. I want to be put down in that category because we are growing, too. We are going to grow faster than anybody," Donald Trump said amidst applause from the audience.

Attacking the WTO, Mr Trump said he thinks that the World Trade Organization was probably the worst of all. "But a lot of people don't know what that is, that allowed China to become this great economic power".

On the trade deficit between the US and China, which has led to a tariff war between the world's top two economies, he said, "I'm a big fan of (Chinese) President Xi Jinping, but I told him, 'we have to be fair'."

"We can't let China take $500 billion a year out of the United States and rebuild itself," he added.

Mr Trump also said that the US should get paid for securing the wealthy countries from the outside harm. "I think it's fine, but they got to pay us for this. We're watching the whole world and they take it for granted."

"For years and years we've been protecting these countries. They're making a fortune. They've had very little military cost. We have the biggest military cost in the world. Most of it goes to protecting outside countries, some of whom don't even like us," President Trump said.

"We're protecting countries that have -- I got to say, they do have respect for us now, but they didn't have any respect for us, and they got to pay. They got to pay, you know, when they're wealthy," he said.

PTI