Democrat 2020 candidate Andrew Yang turned talk during Thursday’s primary debate to Russia “laughing their asses off” at the United States.

Yang was asked if he is worried about China on issues of technology and taking jobs, and how he would stand up against it. He instead chose to first speak of Russia to say they are laughing at the United States before he turned to the question of China.

“I just want to agree that I think Russia’s our greatest geo-political threat because they’ve been hacking our Democracy successfully,” said Yang. “They’ve been laughing their asses off about it for the last couple of years.”

“We should focus on that before we start worrying about other threats,” said Yang.

“Now China, they do pirate our intellectual property, it’s a massive problem,” he said, turning to the question asked. “But the tariffs and the trade war are just punishing businesses and producers and workers on both sides.”

Yang recalled meeting with an Iowa farmer “who said he spent six years building up a buying relationship in China that’s now disappeared and gone forever.”

“The beneficiaries have not been American workers or people in China,” the former tech executive went on. “It’s been southeast Asia and other producers that are then stepped in to the void.”

Yang called for cracking down on “Chinese malfeasance in the trade relationship,” but said “the tariffs and the trade war are the wrong way to go.”

Michelle Moons is a reporter for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook