Rand Paul embarrassed Donald Trump over China and the TPP during the GOP debate

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Calling it a "horrible deal," Donald Trump spoke out against the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership during the Fox Business Republican debate, saying it would cause Americans to lose their jobs and was "designed for China to come in as they always do through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone." As soon as he was finished, Sen. Rand Paul made an important clarification: China is not part of the deal.

Twitter quickly applauded Paul for his interjection:

After clarifying China's non-existent role in the TPP, Paul added that China doesn't like the deal because the United States will be trading with their competitors. He said he does agree with Trump in that the U.S. should "negotiate from a position of strength, and we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power given to us." It's a mistake, however, to give up "power to the presidency on these trade deals" and "the power to amend." Over the last century, he said, "so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Congress is kind of a bystander; we don't write the rules, we don't make the laws, the executive branch does. So even in trade, and I am for trade, I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency."

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Earlier, Trump said he would rather make "individual deals with individual countries," and believes China is the "number one abuser of this country," taking advantage through "currency manipulation." "I love trade," he said. "I am a free trader 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals and we don't have smart people making the deals." Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.