President Trump said Wednesday morning the U.S. doesn’t have anything to lose when it comes to the trade deficit when it’s “already $500 billion down.”
“When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!” Trump tweeted.
When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
Trump appears to mirroring what Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday morning on CNBC regarding U.S. and Chinese recently imposed tariffs on goods.
Ross said the U.S. has such a large trade deficit with China, it can’t be hurt by the brewing trade war between the two economic powerhouses.
“When you’re $500 billion down, this isn’t a war you can lose, if it gets to be a war,” Ross said.
He spoke soon after China said it would hit $50 billion worth of U.S. goods with tariffs, in retaliation for U.S. plans to impose tariffs on a similar amount of Chinese goods. The U.S. move is a response to China’s continued theft of U.S. intellectual property rights.
Ross said he agreed with President Trump’s tweet from Wednesday morning that insisted the U.S. and China are “not in a trade war” because the U.S. already lost that war “many years ago.”
Ross said Trump is “determined” to follow through with plans to impose tariffs, and said Wall Street should not have been surprised.
“He’s determined to go forward, and this response should not have really surprised anyone,” he said.
Ross did say there was some chance the U.S. and China could negotiate away their respective threats, but said it’s not clear this could happen before tariffs take effect next month.
“It wouldn’t be surprising at all if the net outcome of all this is some sort of a negotiation,” he said. “Whether that happens by May or happens at some other time, that’s a whole other question.”
