GOP frontrunner Donald Trump separated himself from rival Ohio Gov. John Kasich during his morning and afternoon campaign rallies in Ohio on trade, specifically the Trans Pacific Partnership.
“He’s now in favor of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). It is a disaster. It is going to ruin your car industry,” Trump said of Kasich during his Saturday afternoon campaign rally at the Cleveland I-X Center.
That deal is very bad for a lot of reasons. Number one, you shouldn’t sign with that many countries. The document is almost 7,000 pages long. Nobody from our country has read it, believe me. But the other countries have all read it and they know every word and it’s just another way to take advantage of jobs, manufacuting and everything else in the United States. We’re not going to let it happen anymore.
Trump claimed Kasich “has led your coal industry down.”
“Your steel industry is going to hell,” the real estate mogul added. “We’re bringing it all back.”
Trump was also critical of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the closing of factories.
“He’s in favor of amnesty,” Trump alleged about Kasich, saying, Kasich “can’t be president.”
When asked about Trump’s comments on trade via email, Kasich communications director Rob Nichols told Breitbart News, “We got 51% support from union households in 2014 gov race.”
On Saturday afternoon, Kasich’s campaign issued a press release from Ohio’s Affiliated Construction Trades on his job creation:
Because of John Kasich, Ohio’s construction workers have more jobs, which create opportunities for a higher quality of life for their families. While others choose to utilize foreign workers for purposes of convenience or profit, Governor Kasich has successfully brought jobs to Ohio from Mexico, China and Europe, and he has been steadfast in his demands for Ohio’s construction workforce. We need a president who walks the walk, and John Kasich has done that with us.
His relentless approach to economic development and job creation, coupled with his unprecedented efforts to rebuild Ohio’s infrastructure, has created numerous opportunities for our contractor-partners and our 92,000+ members in the construction trades. I am confident that he’ll be a strong president for all Americans and implement the same level-headed common sense economic policies in the White House that he has done so powerfully as Governor of Ohio. We will continue to stress to our members that there is one clear leader in the Republican field – Governor John Kasich.
The International Union for Operating Engineers Local 18 also recently touted Kasich’s jobs record.
Kasich wasn’t the only one Trump was critical of during his rally. He also went after Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), saying, “Hillary cannot seem to win even against a communist. How is it in our great, great world, that a communist cannot be beaten by Hillary Clinton?”