The Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary has said President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Chinese products are « not enough. »
Businessman and investor Kevin O’Leary said he wants to go DEFCON 1 on China and implement 400 percent tariffs in the wake of Donald Trump’s trade announcements.
O’Leary made the comments during a CNN panel discussing the President-elect’s revelation that he intends to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese products entering the U.S. and a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico.
« I would like to go to DEFCON 1 with China, tariffs 400 percent, I brought it up », O’Leary said on a Newsnight episode on Tuesday. He used the shortened U.S. military term for « Defense Readiness Condition 1 », which is the most severe alert level.
« Bring the supreme leader to Washington or crush his economy until he has riots in the street », he said.
When asked if 35 percent is « enough for China », O’Leary said: « No it’s not enough—what you have to do is target parts of their economy with a lot of workers. »
He added: « Just for an example, let’s say yoga mats—let’s say we import a million yoga mats a month. All the yoga mat factories, 400 percent tariffs on yoga mats, they all get unemployed, they go to the streets, they scream at the supreme leader, ‘I’m starving’, riots.
