"China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters -- rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented (sic) act," the real estate magnate wrote on his favorite platform.
"Unpresidented" quickly became a top trending topic on Twitter in the United States, as online wags savaged the incoming president for the unfortunate misspelling.
"TrumpSpellCheck -- Unpresidentedly effective," tweeted "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling.
Trump deleted the tweet after about an hour, replacing it with one correctly using the word "unprecedented."
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While many mocked the deeply divisive political novice, famous for his verbal tics and gaffes, supporters jumped to his defense and said critics were piling on about a typo while ignoring the bigger problem.
Trump was referring to China's seizure on Thursday of an unmanned US naval probe in international waters of the South China Sea, a serious provocation as tensions rise between the two superpowers.
Trump has repeatedly infuriated Beijing in recent weeks, questioning longstanding US policy on Taiwan, calling Beijing a currency manipulator and threatening Chinese imports with punitive tariffs.
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