Donald Trump says tariffs on China ‘working far better’ than anticipated
US president says on Twitter that ‘only fools would disagree’
US President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his controversial use of tariffs against China and other countries, saying the trade measures are “working far better than anyone ever anticipated.”
“Tariffs have had a tremendous positive impact on our Steel Industry,” he said in one tweet. “Plants are opening all over the US, Steelworkers are working again, and big dollars are flowing into our Treasury.”
“Tariffs will make our country much richer than it is today,” Trump said in another tweet. “Only fools would disagree.”
He also said China was “for the first time doing poorly against us.”
His tweets came amid a new surge in trade tensions with China. Earlier this week, the US president told his top trade official to study whether to raise tariffs on US$200 billion in Chinese goods from a planned 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
Beijing then threatened to impose an additional US$60 billion in tariffs on a variety of American goods – which White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow dismissed as “a weak response.”