Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney said Thursday that President Trump is wrong to claim he is the "best president for farmers."
Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland, told Fox News' "Special Report" he could potentially win over rural voters because he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.
"One thing I would definitely disagree with him that he said he's been the 'best president for farmers'," he said. "I would argue he's been the worst. Every acre of ground in Iowa is worth less today than it was when he was inaugurated because of this trade war that he's in."
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Delaney, who did not qualify for Thursday's Democratic presidential debate, said Trump wrongfully removed the United States from the Obama-endorsed TPP.
"I'm the only person running for president who supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would be the best thing to ever happen to rural America, and I think I could win rural America on just that one issue."
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The candidate dismissed Team Trump's assertions, cited by anchor Bret Baier, that farmers have reaped $16 billion in aid thanks to the White House and that the negotiations with China will eventually bear fruit.
"I think the farmers are grateful for that money, but they don't want handouts, they want markets," he said.
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Delaney said the economy is doing "reasonably well," but argued that dynamic is "very concentrated" in certain parts of the country. "Last year, 80 percent of the money for startup businesses went to 50 counties in this country out of 3,000," he said.
Regarding Thursday's debate, Baier noted Delaney was one of a handful of moderate candidates -- including Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, -- who did not make the stage by meeting Democratic National Committee criteria for polling and fundraising.
Delaney said he noticed the same thing, but added that the top-performing moderate candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, doesn't offer the same fresh perspective he does in the race.
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"I don't think he's put forth new ideas," Delaney said of Biden.
The TPP trade deal was a massive free-trade agreement pushed by the Obama administration. The deal included the U.S. and 11 other countries along the Pacific Ocean, including: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Signed in February 2016, the deal was supposed to provoke investment among the 12 regions, which together make up about 40 percent of the global economy, the BBC reported at the time.
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