President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was the “chosen one” to battle China in the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

Looking up briefly in the sky as he spoke about his fight with China, Trump declared, “I am the chosen one. Somebody had to do it, so I am taking on China, I’m taking on China on trade, and you know what? We are winning.”

The president spoke to reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Kentucky to for a speech to American’s veterans.

Trump continued to defend his struggle with China, telling reporters outside the White House it was up to him to do what past presidents should have done sooner.

“I was put here by people to do a great job and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.

He suggested that China was probably waiting for a Democrat like “Sleepy Joe” Biden to win the presidency, rather than make a deal with his administration.

“Sleepy Joe doesn’t have a clue, Sleepy Joe said, ‘Oh, China’s wonderful,’ Well China is wonderful for China, but I’m wonderful for the USA,” he said.

Trump also spoke about his efforts on Tuesday, during remarks with reporters in the Oval Office.

“It’s about time, whether it’s good for this country or bad for this country short term,” he said. “Long term, it’s imperative that somebody does this.”

The president said China was experiencing one of the worst months in half a century economically under his tough trade policies and signaled optimism that they were ready to make a deal.

On Tuesday, he admitted that there were some effects to the ongoing trade battle, but he would keep fighting.

“I could be sitting right now with a stock market that would be up 10,000 points higher if I didn’t want to do it,” he said and added, “You should be happy that I’m fighting this battle because somebody had to do it. I don’t think it’s sustainable with what was happening.”