President Donald Trump has indicated that he is willing to slap tariffs on every Chinese goods imported to the U.S. should the need arise.I'm ready to go to 500, the president told CNBC's Joe Kernen in a Squawk Box interview aired Friday.
The reference is to the dollar amount of Chinese imports the U.S. accepted in 2017 — US$ 505.5 billion to be exact, compared with the US$129.9 billion the U.S. exported to China, according to US Census Bureau data.
Thus far in the burgeoning trade war, the US has slapped tariffs on juts US$ 34bn of Chinese products, which China met with retaliatory duties.
By sheer dollar volume, the Chinese won't be able to come close to the US in a tit for tat battle. Trump's comments point to a willingness to push the envelope as far as the U.S. needs to get Chinese tariff concessions, along with a pledge to stop allegedly stealing American technology.
I'm not doing this for politics, I'm doing this to do the right thing for our country, Trump said. We have been ripped off by China for a long time.
Trump said the U.S. is being taken advantage of on a number of fronts, including trade and monetary policy. Yet he said he has not pushed the tariffs out of any ill will toward China.
I don't want them to be scared. I want them to do well, he said. I really like President Xi a lot, but it was very unfair.
Trump also said he was told by unspecified Chinese officials that nobody would ever complain from past administrations until you came along — me. They said, 'Now you're more than complaining. We don't like what you're doing.'
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesTwo small chinese problems.
Jul 22nd, 2018 - 01:11 pm 0One. If the chinese punish the US with a debt sell off they lower their own credit rating and allow speculators to reap an easy profit.
Two. The chinese very quickly exhaust their ability to exact counter tariffs due to the depth of the trade imbalance.
chronic i.e pathological
Jul 25th, 2018 - 02:39 pm 0Two small chinese problems.
Almost all shoes sold in the U.S. are imported. Now the industry is terrified of tariffs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/07/24/almost-all-shoes-sold-us-are-imported-now-industry-is-terrified-tariffs/?utm_term=.f90430fcc359
Hmm, a shoeless America, tough in the winter.
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