Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - China was a pivotal talking point at Tuesday night's presidential debate as former US President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris traded blows over their differing records with the country.

The debate, hosted by ABC News, saw Harris and Trump tussle over each candidate's record on China, both accusing each other of weakening Washington's standing against Beijing.

"He ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military," Harris said of Trump during the September 10 debate.

"[Trump] basically sold us out when a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century," she said.

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"That requires focusing on relationships with our allies, focusing on investing in American-based technology so that we win the race, on AI, on quantum computing, focusing on what we need to do to support America’s workforce."

When it comes to economic issues, Harris accused Trump of inviting trade wars, while Trump pointed out that several of the tariffs implemented under his administration are still in place today.

Trump proposed future tariffs on Chinese imports of at least 60% and claimed that tariffs imposed during his presidency garnered "billions and billions of dollars from China."

Under the Biden-Harris administration, Washington has continued to pose lucrative tariffs on Beijing, focusing on China's support of Russia in Ukraine and electric vehicles among other things.

"My opponent has a plan that I call the ‘Trump sales tax,’ which would be a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month," Harris said.

Former president Trump said that Harris "has no policy" on China and alleged that Harris is a "Marxist" with no plan for the US economy.

In particular, Trump targeted what he claimed was weakness on the part of the Joe Biden administration, and said that if he were to be elected, countries like China would have more respect for his administration.

"Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we’ve done for the world, and the tariff will be substantial," Trump said.

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On tariffs implemented during his administration, Trump said that "they never took the tariff off, because it was so much money. They can’t, it would totally destroy everything that they’ve set out to do."

Donald Trump also claimed that if he were to be re-elected, China would face higher prices and consequences for what he sees as Beijing "ripping us off for years."

For her part, Harris said that "the Trump administration resulted in a trade deficit, one of the highest we’ve ever seen in the history of America."

In response to questions from the AFP, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, "We are opposed to making China an issue in US elections."