President Trump re-upped his attacks on cheap Chinese imports and stood by his assertion that American children will be fine if they “have two dolls instead of 30.”
“I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs – that’s 11 years old – needs to have 30 dolls,” Trump reiterated to NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday.
“I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China.”
Last week, Trump raised eyebrows for suggesting that children will be fine if they have fewer dolls with which to play. During a cabinet meeting, he said, “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30” amid the fallout over his protectionist trade policies.
Top policy adviser Stephen Miller later mused that dolls manufactured in China “might have … lead paint in it” and argued that consumers prefer American products due to their “higher degree of quality.”
In his interview with NBC, the president emphasized that he’s not predicting that American consumers will see empty store shelves, but rather that he’s merely trying to close the trade deficit with China.
“No, I’m not saying that,” he said when asked about whether he was expecting shortages. “I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”
“We don’t have to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don’t need, for junk that we don’t need.”
In April, Trump ratcheted up tariffs on imports from China to 145% for most goods, with a few exemptions in place, including electronics, while his administration studies the supply chain and reevaluates its policy.
Trump already has a slew of tariffs in place, such as a 10% baseline tariff rate on virtually all goods flowing into the US, as well as 25% tariffs on automobiles, aluminum, steel and imports from Canada and Mexico that don’t comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
He’s also threatening to fire off even higher tariff rates unless countries negotiate new arrangements with the US by July 8.
Trump was adamant that under his watch, prices are going down and bristled at NBC anchor Kristen Welker for suggesting that prices are going up, chiding that “This is such a dishonest interview already.”
“Prices are down on groceries,” Trump argued. “Prices are down for oil. Prices are down for all energy. Prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline.”
Welker listed items like tires, strollers and clothing that are starting to see prices rise. Trump dismissed those as “peanuts” compared to his focus like seeing energy prices and mortgage rates decline under his watch.
The national average for gasoline prices is $3.17, according to the American Automobile Association.
In reflecting on the economy, Trump said that “anything can happen” when asked about the risk of a recession, but predicted it’s more likely “we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country.”
“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” the president remarked at one point.
“He did a terrible job on everything, from his autopen – which I’m sure he knew nothing about, some of the things he was supposedly signing.”
