The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term “bloodbath” as a “major economic disaster,” a characterization used by former President Donald Trump to describe what he believes will happen to America’s auto industry without fierce tariffs on China.

During a speech in Ohio last weekend, Trump said:

Let me tell you something to China, if you’re listening President Xi — and you and I are friends but he understands the way I deal — those big, monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now, and you think you’re going to get that and you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. [Emphasis added]

We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line. And you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected. Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole, that’s going to be the least of it, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country; that’s going to be the least of it. [Emphasis added]

The corporate media, President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and elected Democrats jumped on Trump’s remarks, claiming he used the term “bloodbath” to describe political violence if he is not elected.

Merriam-Webster dictionary, though, clarifies that in the correct context, the term “bloodbath” describes a “major economic disaster” such as “a market bloodbath.”

Trump also echoed remarks from a Chinese auto executive who suggested to employees recently that China is looking for a “bloodbath” with its cheap electric vehicles (EVs) and encroachment into the United States market.

“This year also marks the beginning of a fierce competition that may end in a ‘bloodbath’ (or as I prefer to call it, the brutal ‘knockout round’) among Chinese automakers,” He Xiaopeng, the CEO of XPeng Motors, wrote in an internal memo obtained by CNBC.

“XPeng has engaged in this cutthroat competition right from the outset, thus accumulating considerable experience,” Xiaopeng continues. “Our guts, grit, and perseverance, I firmly believe, will lead us to victory.”

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.