Kamala Harris called Donald Trump’s foreign policy “one-sided” and “isolationist.”
Washington:
Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris accused President Donald Trump of “betraying our friends and embracing dictators” as she attacked his “one-sided approach” to her foreign policy that led America to withdraw. withdraw from the historic Iran nuclear deal and make the country less secure. .
In the only vice-presidential debate in the 2020 presidential election held Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, Utah, the 55-year-old California senator stressed that foreign policy “might seem complicated” but that it was really about relationships.
“You have to keep your word to your friends. You have to be loyal to your friends. The people who have supported you, you have to be with them,” Harris said during the 90-minute debate. .
“Donald Trump has betrayed our friends and embraced dictators around the world,” she said, inviting Vice President Mike Pence who said the Trump administration had “stood firm with our allies.”
“We have strengthened our alliances … and resisted those who would harm us,” Pence said, staunchly defending his boss.
Criticizing the Trump administration for pulling the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal and isolating America, Harris called Trump’s foreign policy “one-sided” and “isolationist.”
President Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in May 2018, in one of the biggest foreign policy decisions. The move was opposed by the American allies – France, Britain and Germany. This historic agreement was the diplomatic crowning achievement of former President Barack Obama.
“Pew, a reputable research firm, has carried out an analysis which shows that the leaders of all our former allied countries now hold more esteem and respect Xi Jinping, the leader of the President of the Chinese Communist Party, than Donald Trump …, Harris said. “This is where we are today because of leadership failure.”
For his part, Pence pointed to the Trump administration’s record in combating Islamic State and said that President Trump “unleashed the US military” and shot dead Iraqi terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a man responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
He said the president ordered an operation that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani earlier this year.
Harris pointed out that Russia intervened in the 2016 US presidential election and said Trump would rather speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin than the US intelligence community.
Harris, who aspires to be the first female vice president in history, and Pence were separated by plexiglass barriers during the debate. They were seated 12.25 feet apart on the debate stage.
Harris, whose mother was from India and father from Jamaica, made history in August when she was chosen by the Democratic Party as the running mate.
She is the first black woman and the first Asian-American woman to be chosen as the running mate of a major political party in the United States.
It is for the first time in American history that a person of Indian origin has stepped onto the podium for a vice-presidential debate.
