President Trump insisted Wednesday that reciprocal threats of tariffs on U.S. and Chinese goods doesn’t mean the two trade superpowers are in a trade war, because the U.S. lost the trade war against China years ago.
“We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!”
We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would be imposing tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. Less than 11 hours later, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced it would be retaliating with tariffs on a comparable amount of U.S. imports.
China said its tariffs would take effect as soon as the U.S. finalizes its list and imposes its trade restrictions on Chinese goods.
Global stock markets already responded to the two announcements, and U.S. equities market futures were down about 2 percent.
