Trump would sink US economy: Clinton

Democrat Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that if Republican rival Donald Trump wins the White House, it will be a disaster for the US economy, predicting a "Trump recession."

"Now I don't say this because of typical political disagreements - liberals and conservatives say Trump's ideas would be disastrous," Clinton said. "Economists on the right, the left and the center all agree Trump would throw us back into recession."

Clinton's speech in Columbus, Ohio, a state that will be a battleground in the Nov 8 election, was the second in which she has argued the wealthy businessman is "temperamentally unfit" to lead the country. The first was on foreign relations and national security.

"Donald Trump has said he is qualified to be president because of his business record," Clinton said.

"So let's take a look at what he did for his businesses: He's written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at Chapter 11; go figure," Clinton said, in a jab referring to Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

Clinton then said Trump, a self-described "king of debt," had allowed businesses to amass huge debts and declare bankruptcy, leaving hundreds of people without jobs and wiping out shareholders.

Allowing the United States to accrue similar debt would rattle investors and could lead to economic catastrophe, she added.

Meanwhile, Clinton's lead over Republican rival Donald Trump has slipped by about five percentage points since mid-June, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday, bringing the race for the White House to within nine points.

The poll showed that 44.5 percent of likely voters supported former secretary of state Clinton while 35.5 percent backed businessman Trump. That compares with 46.6 percent support for Clinton and 32.3 percent for Trump on June 12, a date that marked her widest lead for the month.