White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow signaled on Sunday that the tariff war with China could keep going for a while longer — and he…
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow signaled on Sunday that the tariff war with China could keep going for a while longer — and he argued Americans are not alone in paying the consequences of it.
“I think the economic costs are de minimis,” Kudlow told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “The potential economic gains of a good deal that opens up China, and makes them legal trade partners, those gains are huge. So that’s a cost-benefit analysis that I really like.”
President Trump announced an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods last Sunday, raising tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion of Chinese-made products. That increase went into effect Friday, hours before the Trump administration announced the latest round of trade talks with China ended without the two countries reaching a deal.
The uncertainty caused by the talks and the new tariffs led to stock market upheaval and a promise from China that retaliatory measures will soon be announced.
Despite market concerns and fears over the impact China’s countermeasures could have, Kudlow said he believes the president hasn’t lost the public’s trust on trade.
“Politically, I think the country is completely behind the president and his tough approach on China and, in fact, as you know, leading Democrats such as Sen. Schumer and others have supported the president in this battle.”
As Vox’s Emily Stewart has reported, President Trump has made a number of inaccurate statements about the tariffs, including that they help to “make our country richer than ever before.”
Wallace played Kudlow video of Trump making a similar incorrect statement about the tariffs Thursday at the White House, when the president claimed that tariffs are, “paid for mostly by China, by the way, not by us,” and said, “Larry, that isn’t true.
