Article snippet: President Donald Trump has long decried the trade imbalances between the United States and China, even going so far as a presidential candidate to say it amounted to economic "rape." But as he complained about those inequities on Chinese turf on Thursday, the president offered a surprising qualifier: "I don’t blame China." "After all," Trump said, "who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country to the benefit of its citizens? But in actuality, I do blame past [U.S.] administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow. We have to fix this because it just doesn't work for our great American companies and it doesn't work for our great American workers. It is just not sustainable.” The president's remarks came during a signing ceremony in Beijing, during which $250 billion worth of U.S.-China business agreements were announced. During the ceremony, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat on a dais in arm chairs as U.S. and Chinese business leaders walked up to a table to sign multiple "memorandums of understanding" for future business deals, many of which are non-binding agreements and are years away from actually taking effect. The president's remarks about shifting blame away from China for inequities stands in contrast to his rhetoric on China as a presidential candidate. During an interview with "A post shared by ABC News (@abcnews) on Nov 8, 2017 at 9:35pm PST While in Chin... Link to the full article to read more