Presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to hold a similar world view today as he did 28 years ago.
On a 1988 episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Trump discusses international commerce, the US economy, and a possible presidential bid. According to The New York Times, Trump spent almost $100,000 of his own money to purchase full-page advertisements in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe during 1987.
Prompted by the ads, Oprah asked the business mogul how he would change American’s foreign policy. Trump responded that we would “make our allies pay their fair share.”
America “can’t keep going on losing 200 billion,” he continued, “and yet we let Japan come in and dump everything right into our markets.”
Trump, then 42-years-old, followed up the statement with “I have tremendous respect for the Japanese people. You can respect somebody that’s beating the hell out of you, but they are beating the hell out of this country.”
When asked if he would run for president Trump replied “probably not, but I do get tired of seeing the country ripped off.”
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