Former President Donald Trump brought cheers from the crowd attending an Economic Club of Chicago event Tuesday when he refuted the Bloomberg editor-in-chief’s views about tariffs.
“You’re also talking about 10, 20 percent tariffs on the rest of the world. That is going to have a serious effect on the overall economy. And yes, you’re going to find some people who will gain from individual tariffs, but the overall effect could be massive when it comes to the economy,” Bloomberg’s John Micklethwait asserted.
“I agree. I agree. It’s gonna have a massive effect. Positive effect,” Trump responded.
“I know how committed you are to this and it must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative, and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong,” Trump continued.
Trump offered the example of farm equipment manufacturer John Deere, which has been moving some of its production to Mexico, Iowa’s The Gazette reported in September.
Trump threatened at the time, if he is re-elected president, to impose a 200 percent tariff on any John Deere production moved to Mexico, when the company tries to sell the equipment back into the U.S, according to CNBC.
Micklethwait confirmed on Tuesday, “You threatened tariffs, and [Deere] stopped” its plans.
“That’s right,” Trump said. “They just announced yesterday, they’re probably not going to build the plants. I kept the jobs here.”
Trump just bodied the Neoliberal Bloomberg editor at the Economic Club of Chicago.
“It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re wrong.”
*Crowd erupts* pic.twitter.com/WAGhwgQmeO
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) October 15, 2024
Micklethwait also argued that The Wall Street Journal agrees with him that tariffs overall are bad for the economy.
“What does the Wall Street Journal know? …They’ve been wrong about everything. So have you, by the way … You’ve been wrong all your life on this stuff,” Trump replied, causing audience members to break out in cheers and applause.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “What does the Wall Street Journal know? They’ve been wrong about everything. So have you, by the way… you’ve been wrong all your life on this stuff.” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/kg8LlYcpF0
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
Trump has called for reciprocal trade, meaning if countries impose tariffs or other unfair trade practices on U.S. products, they will meet the same policy for their goods coming into the U.S.
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His campaign website highlights fair trade agreements his administration negotiated, including USMCA with Mexico and Canada.
Commerce Secretary and Kamala Harris campaign surrogate Gina Raimondo argued on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last month that Trump’s tariffs would be inflationary.
“I mean, that’s insane. That will raise prices on everything for everyone,” she said.
During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs on various Chinese goods starting in 2018 (reaching as high as 25 percent) and inflation remained low, reaching 2.4 percent that year and falling to 1.8 percent in 2019 and 1.2 percent in 2020.
In response, China apparently absorbed the cost of the tariff and perhaps shifted some of its manufacturing to other countries with better trade terms with the U.S.
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