President Trump downplayed the impact of the tariffs he’s implemented in a new interview, suggesting that he hasn’t even levied tariffs and dismissing the concerns of businesses who’ve complained about them.
“We don’t even have tariffs. I’m using tariffs to negotiate,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview, the transcript of which was published Wednesday. He said the threat of tariffs was integral to his negotiations with other countries, pointing to the recent U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade as proof. “I could never have done it without tariffs,” he said.
Under Trump, the U.S. has implemented new tariffs. It has hit $250 billion worth of Chinese goods with tariffs ranging from 10-25 percent, and threatened to enact an additional $267 billion to cover all imports. It has also placed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum ones. It removed exemptions that Canada and Mexico initially had to the steel and aluminum ones as a means to pressure them during the USMCA talks. The White House has proposed tariffs on auto and auto parts imports as well.
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Trump nevertheless discounted the effect of tariffs on the domestic economy, saying, “Where do we have tariffs? We don’t have tariffs anywhere.”
The president added that those complaining about the tariffs were often using them as excuses for their own failures.
“You know what happens? A business that’s doing badly always likes to blame Trump and the tariffs, because it’s a good excuse for some incompetent guy that’s making $25 million a year,” the president said.
