Biden’s Stretch on Intellectual Property Theft

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says the Trump administration has not been fighting China on “stealing intellectual secrets,” claiming that instead it has been “fighting in trade.” But intellectual property issues have been part of ongoing trade negotiations with China.

Biden’s comments came during a July 5 interview on CNN with Chris Cuomo.

Biden: China’s problem is they’re stealing intellectual secrets. 

Cuomo: Yes.

Biden: Their cybersecurity. Deal the same way. You say you got to invest here in the United States and you want to be able to invest here, and you say, “We want to invest in China but you got to have a 51 percent owner?” No deal, man. Deal for deal. 50 percent.

Cuomo: This administration’s fighting that same fight, isn’t it? 

: But they’re not. No. They’re fighting in trade. Trump thinks it’s about trade deficits and trade surpluses. It’s not about that.