Trump defends tariffs, says they will make US richer
President Donald Trump has defended his controversial use of tariffs against China and various US allies, saying his trade action would make the country richer in the long run.
The remarks came in a series of tweets Trump made on Saturday amid a new surge in trade tensions with China.
....Tariffs have had a tremendous positive impact on our Steel Industry. Plants are opening all over the U.S., Steelworkers are working again, and big dollars are flowing into our Treasury. Other countries use Tariffs against, but when we use them, foolish people scream!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018
He claimed that much of the current opposition to his move comes from China in spite of the fact that many of Washington’s allies and members of his own party have condemned the tariffs.
....Tariffs will make our country much richer than it is today. Only fools would disagree. We are using them to negotiate fair trade deals and, if countries are still unwilling to negotiate, they will pay us vast sums of money in the form of Tariffs. We win either way......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018
He also said that China "is for the first time doing poorly against us," adding, their economy is being badly hurt.
Earlier this week, it was said that Trump planned to propose a 25-percent tariff on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods, after initially setting them at 10 percent.
Beijing, in return, threatened to impose an additional $60 billion in tariffs on a variety of US goods, a measure described by White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow as "a weak response."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called his country's threat "fully justified and necessary."
"As to whether China's economy is doing well or not, I think it is all too clear to the whole international community," Wang said on the sidelines of a security forum in Singapore, adding that China contributed a huge amount to global economic growth.
The mounting tensions with China have raised concerns in both countries and reportedly even within the Trump administration about collateral damage.
"We said before that this round of tariffs amounted to doubling down on the recklessness of imposing trade policy that will hurt US families and workers more than they will hurt China," a major trade group, the National Retail Federation, said in a statement last week.
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