Josh Bolten, president and CEO of the Business Roundtable, on Sunday slammed President Trump for saying “trade wars are good,” arguing “nobody wins a trade war.”
“The tweets by the president, including a tweet about responding [to] German autos on Friday, suggest that he thinks a trade war is easy, that it’s winnable. It isn’t. Nobody wins a trade war,” Bolten told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace.
“Every modern president, Chris, has faced some trade skirmishes during their time, but they’ve all been wise enough not to let it descend into outright trade war,” Bolten, who served as former President George W. Bush’s chief of staff before joining the association of leading CEOs.
Bolten was part of the Bush administration when, in 2002, it imposed a 30 percent tariff on steel imports, with some exemptions.
The tariff was later lifted when the European Union won its case against the U.S. in front of the World Trade Organization shortly afterward.
Bolten warned the Trump White House to learn from the Bush administration’s mistakes, saying the proposed tariffs risked causing damage across downstream industries and any sector that may be hurt if international trade partners choose to retaliate.
“I don’t know if Peter Navarro would be willing to bet his job that he’s right that there won’t be retaliation, but he ought to be willing to make that bet because he’s betting the jobs of tens of thousands of Americans who depend on these export markets,” Bolten said, referring to the White House trade adviser.
Trump on Thursday announced he would be pushing for tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports to protect domestic industries.
