Election 2016: Donald Trump blames China for plummeting stock market

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has placed the blame of the stock market struggles on 24 August on China, warning that the communist country will "bring us down". The GOP front-runner took to social media to issue his warnings, posting a video on Instagram and tweeting messages against China.

"I've been telling everybody for a long time," Trump said in a short video posted to Instagram. "China's taking our jobs; they're taking our money." He continued: "Be careful—they'll bring us down. You have to know what you're doing — we have nobody that has a clue."

Trump also took to Twitter to broadcast his feelings towards China. "Markets are crashing - all caused by poor planning and allowing China and Asia to dictate the agenda. This could get very messy! Vote Trump!" the real estate mogul turned politician tweeted.

According to USA Today, the Dow fell more than 1,000 points during early trading, but rallied to just a modest loss by mid-day. The decline in the markets could have affected Trump's own portfolio, the Washington Post reported.

The Post reported that Trump uses liquid assets, such as his stakes in the stocks, to fund his presidential bid. Analysis performed by the newspaper revealed that on 21 August, Trump's stock portfolio slipped $1.4m and may have lost as much as $4.5m over the month. Those numbers, however, are contingent on Trump not buying or selling any stock during that time.

Other Republican candidates also blamed China for the volatility in the stock market, USA Today reported.

"I think the stock market has hit record highs over and over again because the Federal Reserve has ensured, through its easy-money policy, that the stock market is the only place you can earn a return," Carly Fiorina said to Fox News. "I think this is warranted honestly"

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, meanwhile, placed the blame on the Obama administration. "What you need to do in the Oval Office is rein this government in," he said on Fox. "Stop running up so much debt."