Fox Business host Stuart Varney acknowledged that the United States economy is “suffering” as a “direct result” of President Trump’s trade negotiations with China.
Discussing the trade war and how it’s affecting the U.S. economy Wednesday on Fox & Friends, Varney said, “Sunday, we imposed extra tariffs on Chinese goods. The Chinese immediately turned around and said, ‘Right, we are doing the same thing.’ President Trump was very angry about this, and he is holding his hard line. This is a problem, because our economy is suffering to some degree from the China trade dispute. Manufacturing is slowing down. Job growth is slowing down. And it is the direct result of the trade dispute.”
“President Trump is in a difficult position. He wants to be reelected, obviously. He wants a strong economy going into 2020 and the election. He is really looking at a situation where if he doesn’t do something on trade like a deal of some sort,” he continued.
Steve Doocy chimed in, commenting that a “skinny trade deal” could work.
Varney responded, “A skinny trade deal, maybe, that is what is required here. I don’t know whether the president will do that. But if he did that, the market would go up, the economy would recover a little bit, at least, and President Trump would look better in 2020.”
[Read more: Odds of recession grow to 1-in-3 as trade war weakens US economy]
