“‘We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country, and that’s what we’re doing,’ he[Trump] told the campaign rally on Sunday.”
Trump accuses China of ‘raping’ US with unfair trade policy-- BBC News
According to my dictionary, “rape” means “to force sb to have sex with you when they do not want to by threatening them or using violence”. What a weird vocabulary Trump has!
Maybe it’s a euphemism for the f-word.
Yes, that is about what he meant (most probably!?)
Yutaka is right - “rape” seems like a strange choice of word in this context. Mr Trump is probably better at making money than making speeches!
Not a new one, rather out of date one.
rapere- in Latin ’ taking or making something by force’, tear off. Not necessarily concerns a sexual purpose.
Okay. But Latin aside, I think the word “rape” (in modern English) does have a pretty strong association with sexual violence, Karat!
When you start taking into account the sensibilities of feminists, woman’s rights campaigners, etc…well…you could say the word is also politically charged to a fairly high degree.
Most regular politicians would probably not refer to “rape” this way in a speech about trade - in my humble opinion.
It’s very common in casual, impolite, American english. A friend of mine used to tell me “you’re raping the company” when I would work a lot of overtime. It has the same basic meaning as “taking advantage of” or “having your way with”.
But Trump loves China; he says it frequently, as documented here:
Yes, and the Japanese empire building in China in the 1930s and 40s were referred to as “The Rape of Nanking.” fyi
You’re right indeed. I was only being semantic though:)
To be honest, political affairs are not my favor kind, therefore, it’s difficult for me to take any statement here.
Consumers prefer to buy cheaper commodities. MNCs tend to employ low-wage workers. Presidents and prime ministers cannot stop the trend of globalization of production.
What is needed is “moderate” protectionism in international trade.