A White House spokesperson says Trump Regrets Not Raising Tariffs on China Higher.
Trump, who announced higher tariffs on Chinese goods last week, raised eyebrows during a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the G7 when he responded in the affirmative to questions from reporters on whether he had any second thoughts about the tariff move.
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham sought to explain the remark. “His answer has been greatly misinterpreted. President Trump responded in the affirmative – because he regrets not raising the tariffs higher,” she said in a statement.
During his meeting with Johnson on Sunday in France, Trump was asked if he had second thoughts about his latest escalation.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?” he said.
The reporter repeated the question and Trump replied: “Might as well. Might as well.”
A second reporter followed up again, asking if he had second thoughts about escalating the trade war with China.
“I have second thoughts about everything,” Trump responded.
Well Do It Then
Hello Mr. President. Time’s a wastin’.
If you regret not imposing more tariffs, then do it.
Since when are any of your decisions final?
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
I was reading the other day that China has a 70% tariff on Maine blueberries. Prior to that i read that a winery complained that China had a 93% tariff on his wine.
The world is literally rudderless
and void of true leadership. Trump is right about a lot of things but he steps on his own message. The baby will get thrown out with the bathwater and then he will sit back and say “I told you so.” If he would have used all that additional revenue on cutting the debt and deficit… oh..nevermind. The additional revenue never came.
We got along fine without China before, and we can do so again. Trump is absolutely right about stopping China from stealing US technology and spying on us. I am so glad we finally have a leader who is taking this seriously.
BTW a major US-Japan trade deal was announced today.
Yeah, while simultaneously calling for QE and lower interest rates. It’s difficult to get worked up over these tariff stories when the banksters still run the show. Until that ends, US living standards will fall regardless of trade policy.
….BTW a major US-Japan trade deal was announced today….
No, nothing is signed, nothing is agreed, and Japan already has no duty on US feed corn…
Trump should simply return the Fentanyl they ship us that kills tens of thousands and could kill a billion back to their cities in the form of powder that kills China’s citizens.
Excellent idea! A hefty tariff on fentanyl would be beneficial for the US in several different ways.
If he were your senile uncle in a nursing home, those would be typical responses to a misunderstood question…
“Yeah, sure. Why not?”
“Might as well. Might as well.”
“I have second thoughts about everything,”
Or reasonable interpretation that he was fed up with the G7 monkey show. Does anything meaningful ever happen in those meetings or are they just a wishy-washy hope shows?
It’s an message obviously intended for the CCP, and no doubt received.
Why do people treat any comments from the President as having any rational meaning or basis in reality?
If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor…
The average family will save $2500 a year in health care premiums…
I can’t do these things just by myself. I’m not a king…(right before the DACA EO)
I am pretty good at killing people…
Aha, the old “watta about Obummer” and the “big lie” from his first year….it outweighs anything now and far into the future…Yup, that’s a really sick burn…pat yourself on the back
TDS is real.
And please give generously to help those with TDS.
Four more years of TDS will really be hard for these folks.
LOL. Very funny.
What does that have to do with the President’s comments? Are you suggesting your “what about” comments of
Obama somehow makes sense of Trump’s dementia? I get it. You hate Obama. So what? Does that make Trump’s comments logical and rational?
Because if you actually listen to the video, it is plain that Trump could barely hear the question. In any world of unbiased journalism, it would have been chalked up to a simple miscommunication in a very noisy room.
It is not like Trump doesn’t talk with reporters on a daily basis. And actually directly answers the questions. To the great aghast of the fake legacy media.
So easy for the partisan hacks here to weaponized any percieved miscue. But had not one complaint when thier messiah directly lied to their face or had comments not “rational in meaning or basis in reality.” Thier selective moral outrage is quite a sight to behold.
So it is fun to point out the TDS.
And is going to be a blast for the next 5.5 years.
I’ve long wondered if you’re paid to post on various forums, RedBanana. The drudgery of trolling for the failing red/blue game is too unrewarding to be done for free.
You’ve not explained what any of that has to so with “but Obama said”
That’s because “tu quoque” is a fallacy, and one peculiar to the Russians.
TDS does not discriminate. More infections among Trump supporters who by definition have TDS.
I have it idea what you are talking about, but I make it a practice never to match wits with an unarmed man.
Reply was to 2banana, hope that clarifies.
And in case it didn’t, I was pointing out 2banana’s “tu quoque” fallacy of deflecting to Obama criticism instead of addressing the original argument, and also that Trump Derangement Syndrome afflicts his base first and last.
Trump should remove China’s “most favorable trading status” and move to get them removed from the WTO.
America should be disarmed to it’s military. If it refuses, it should bombed like we bombed Syria, into ruble.
Then, the world can live in peace.
Not about tariffs,it’s about slave labor,pay someone $1,50 and hour in China and that’s too pricey so the move to Vietnam where they can pay Charlie 1.25 an hour or Mexico at 2,00 dollars an hour or India at 2.25 an hour.Point is for this thing to have any chance of working,you have to impose massive tariffs on all countries that use slave labor!
For mucho manufactured products, labor is but a small part of the overall cost. For example, an iPhone has about $20 of labor in it.
Additionally, lowest cost of labor doesn’t usually win out. If it did, Haiti with the lowest labor rates in the western hemisphere would be absolutely booming with factories.
Thank you.
You just explained why raising minimum wages doesn’t destroy jobs and can be completely absorbed by reducing the insane profits corporations make…like Apple having to suffer a 40% profit instead of 70% profit or whatever.
Slave wages? Jobs not paying a sustainable living wage. How about this country?
Those wages have been coming here as well. Lower wages abroad are used as threats towards the local labor force here – “Accept even lower wages or else we will ship even this job overseas”.
If he raises more, stocks fall. And it sounds like he wants stocks pumped for the election. Don’t rule out a complete resolution of this right before the election, especially if that will rally stocks at that time.
Trump probably truly believes he can bully China into submission. He has certainly forgotten about Korean War and Vietnam War (China was much weaker then)
No, I don’t think that’s it at all. I think he genuinely thinks that trading with China is bad, and that they steal intellectual property, and take American jobs. He doesn’t recognize that trade with China also gives the US a higher standard of living. Because of his beliefs, he isn’t trying to bully China; he’s trying to significantly reduce trade with China, and so far, he seems to be accomplishing it.
I would add that China most likely thinks in the same vein as your post, that Trump is trying to bully them, and they aren’t willing to be bullied. Therefore, they are escalating, which is accelerating the reduction of trade. The problem for China is that it will be very painful for them. The problem for Trump is that it will be sufficiently painful for the US that he most likely will not be reelected.
Trump might not be doing everything right. But he has shed light on the issue of literally millions and millions of US jobs getting exported to China over the decades. Both parties are complicit in the crime – the Republicans as well as the Donorcrats.