'It's bullshit': Kevin Rudd stuns The Project hosts with foul-mouthed slapdown
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has had his say on the ongoing trade war between China and the US, offering a frank assessment of Donald Trump’s ability to reach an agreement.
Appearing on Channel 10’s The Project on Tuesday night, Mr Rudd certainly didn’t mince his words when asked if Mr Trump was capable of making a deal with Xi Jinping.
“Trump has a number of highly legitimate complaints against Chinese trade practices,” Mr Rudd told the show’s hosts.
“But I question his ability to seal the deal, to close the deal.”
Waleed Aly interrupted, reminding Mr Rudd that the US president had previously published a book titled The Art Of The Deal.
But the co-host was quickly shot down.
“That’s bullshit,” Mr Rudd quipped before the panel responded with laughter.
The former PM quickly covers his mouth after swearing on live TV and apologises, only for Carrie Bickmore to remind Mr Rudd it’s not the first time the nation has heard expletives from him.
“We know you swear, we’ve seen it,” Bickmore said.
Mr Rudd, who led a major research project on the future of US-China relations at Harvard University in 2014, warned the ongoing trade war could have a detrimental effect on Australia.
“There’s a real danger we become roadkill or collateral damage in this,” Mr Rudd said.
He predicted there would be no swift resolution to the ongoing tensions.
“I think we’re going to have to get used to this for a while, this level of tension,” he said.
“We’ve just got to accommodate that, we’ve got to absorb it, we’ve got to see the opportunities in it, of which there are many.”
Morrison urges an end to US-China trade dispute
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has thrown support behind addressing global trade rules as the United States and China duke it out in an ongoing dispute.
Washington and Beijing's trade war is causing ructions in the global economy, with the tit-for-tat tariff tussle spooking financial markets, particularly in the US.
Mr Morrison said the international system had reached a point where China and others have enjoyed growth and expansion to become sophisticated economies.
"The rules that worked for that period won't work so well for the next period if it is going to be an even playing field," he told Sky News in an interview aired on Wednesday.
"It is important this gets addressed."
The prime minister said China's growth had been achieved on the basis of a series of rules and engagements.
"Now that China has reached effectively that goal, well, we now need the rules to be enforced that will guide the next phase. That's fundamentally what this is all about," he told the Australian Financial Review.
Mr Morrison has been at the G7 summit in France where US President Donald Trump said China was ready to return to the negotiating table, a claim which Beijing disputed.
Australia has a role to play in the dispute by giving its perspective and that of the Indo-Pacific region in global forums, the prime minister said.
"When you're a principal in a lot of these discussions, it's hard to look past and see what's actually going on," he said.
Mr Morrison said the US-China trade tension was having an impact on the global economy, but the answer was to resolve the issues underpinning the dispute rather than ignore them.
With AAP
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