Trump: ‘Only fools would disagree’ with tariffs — China is ‘doing poorly’

Trump imposed tariffs — a trade measure that makes it more expensive for Americans to purchase certain products from targeted countries — on steel and aluminum imports from countries such as Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. He has also imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of products from China, a figure that could rise to $200 billion if the dispute continues.

“Tariffs have had a tremendous positive impact on our Steel Industry,” he added in the series of tweets. “Plants are opening all over the U.S., Steelworkers are working again, and big dollars are flowing into our Treasury. Other countries use Tariffs against, but when we use them, foolish people scream!”

The tariffs have drawn widespread opposition on Capitol Hill, even among some of Trump’s closest allies. Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has threatened to advance legislation to curtail Trump’s tariff authority because he regards them as tax increases that provoke other countries to impose tariffs that make it harder for American companies to sell their products overseas.

“You are taxing American families, you are putting American jobs at risk, and you are destroying markets — both foreign and domestic — for American businesses of all types, sorts, and sizes,” Hatch told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. ”I hope you consider that carefully as your department conducts its investigation into the national security threat from imported automobiles and auto parts.”

Trump’s tariffs on China have drawn more support, as some free-trade advocates make an exception for an economic clash with such a prominent adversary. “China is systematically stealing the fruits of American innovation in an attempt to displace us as the most powerful economy and military in the world,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in June. “Hitting China with a ‘Theft Tax’ isn’t protectionism; it’s American leadership.”

Chinese officials retaliated against the initial round of tariffs and announced Friday a plan to target just over 5,200 American products if Trump ratchets up the tariffs again. “If the United States act willfully and puts its additional tariff measures into effect, China will instantly implement such tariff measures,” China’s Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said Friday, per Xinhua.

American market analysts see signs that the tariffs are hurting the Chinese economy. “That’s definitely true in the stock markets, because Chinese markets are heavily influenced by foreign capital flows and capital has been flowing out of China,” investor John Rutledge told CNBC. “But there are two other angles in China that matter: One is the economy and the third one is politics.”

That’s a reference to the U.S. industries laboring under the weight of retaliation from other countries. Trump has proposed $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers who are struggling to sell soybeans and other agriculture exports, but U.S. companies that rely on steel from Canada and other countries have seen their expenses skyrocket, causing some companies to appeal for a waiver or lay off employees.

“There are people around this nation that are hurting, farmers are losing money as they harvest right now,” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said during a recent hearing. “And many of them, unfortunately, have faith that there is a plan, that there is a strategy. Now I know senators have been up there to meet with [Trump] a zillion times. I’ve not heard a single senator come back with any earthly idea, any earthly idea, cannot articulate a sentence as to why they’re doing this.”

Trump dismissed his domestic critics as dupes of foreign propaganda. “China, which is for the first time doing poorly against us, is spending a fortune on ads and P.R. trying to convince and scare our politicians to fight me on Tariffs- because they are really hurting their economy,” he tweeted Saturday. “Likewise other countries. We are Winning, but must be strong!”