Former President Trump clashed with the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News at an economic forum in Chicago on Tuesday over the Republican candidate's assertion that tariffs would not hurt his potential second term.
Bloomberg's top editor, John Micklethwait, repeatedly confronted President Trump at the Chicago Economic Club over his plan to impose flat tariffs on imported goods and his threat to impose tariffs on U.S. companies that outsource manufacturing. I applied pressure.
Mr Micklethwaite said President Trump's plan would effectively halt trade with China, impose tariffs of at least 10% on European countries and have a negative impact on the US economy, where 40 million jobs depend on trade. It was pointed out that it would have a significant impact.
Mr Micklethwait said: “This will have a serious impact on the whole economy.”
“It's going to have a big effect, a positive effect. It's going to be a positive effect,” Trump responded. “It must be tough to spend 25 years saying that tariffs are negative and then have someone explain to you that that's completely wrong.”
Micklethwaite criticized President Trump's proposed tariffs on all imports, saying they would amount to a national sales tax, impacting $3 trillion worth of imports and forcing companies to pass on higher costs to buyers. I pointed out what the house pointed out.
“It’s just simple math, President Trump,” he said.
“You're right, but it's not what you thought. I've always been good at math,” Trump replied, adding that higher tariffs would increase the likelihood of foreign companies building factories in the United States. He suggested that it would be.
Micklethwait told Trump that perhaps the most significant risk from the tariffs is to foreign policy, effectively putting allies at an economic disadvantage.
“How does it help counter China, which is turning all of its allies against each other?” he asked.
“Because China thinks we're a stupid country,” Trump said. “They can't believe that someone is finally wise to them.”
The former president has repeatedly touted tariffs as a comprehensive solution to not only reduce the deficit and boost domestic manufacturing, but also reduce costs in areas such as child care.
President Trump has argued that imposing tariffs will reduce costs, but economists sayI've said it repeatedlyit is for companies pass on higher costs to consumers And it could worsen inflation. And the expertsdisputed Trump's claimsTariffs would provide the U.S. government with enough revenue to cover its deficit.
Tuesday's event was a rare confrontational interview for Trump, who has spoken mostly only to conservative media outlets over the past month.
