Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s newly-installed National Economic Council chair, said Friday that he hopes the administration can ultimately avoid imposing the tariffs on China that Trump has spent weeks threatening to impose.
“I’m not a tariff guy, I don’t like to use tariffs. But sometimes you have to use tariffs to bring countries to their senses,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House.
“What I’m saying is as this process plays out, it may not be necessary” to impose tariffs, he added. “But it may also be. I’ve never taken tariffs off the board.”
Kudlow’s well-known preference for free trade policies was a topic of discussion when Trump first selected him last month to replace outgoing NEC head Gary Cohn, as many observers wondered if Kudlow would continue to criticize tariffs once he joined the administration. However, the former CNBC contributor has publicly supported the president’s moves during his first week on the job began on Monday.
Kudlow said he hoped negotiations between the U.S. and China would be aided by Trump’s strong personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has visited Mar-a-Lago with Trump and has already hosted the president once on an official visit to China last year.
But Trump’s top economic adviser warned the White House is prepared to follow through on Trump’s threat to impose billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly products in the technology sphere.
“Trump is not just using tariffs as a negotiating card. He said that to me,” Kudlow said.
China has threatened to retaliate against the U.S. with $50 billion of tariffs on a range of American exports to China, including on soybeans and cars.
Kudlow said Beijing’s initial response to Trump’s talk of tariffs was “highly unsatisfactory.”
“Hopefully — I can guarantee nothing — but hopefully over that period of time…there will be more satisfactory conversation and dialogue with the Chinese,” Kudlow said.
