President Donald Trump on Tuesday pushed back at ABC News Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran, who grilled him over his proposed tariffs on China.
During an exclusive interview with ABC News, Trump dismissed Moran’s concerns about his proposed tariffs, defending the policy as a necessary response to years of unfair trade practices and insisting it would not lead to higher prices for American consumers.
During a discussion over trade policy, Trump rejected concerns that his 145% tariffs on Chinese imports would trigger higher prices for American consumers. “You’re trying to say something’s going to happen,” Trump said. “Well, nothing’s going to happen.”
When Moran said that such steep tariffs amounted to an embargo, Trump stood his ground.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know whether or not China is going to eat it. China probably will eat those tariffs. But at 145 they basically can’t do much business with the United States,” Trump told Moran when Moran said tariffs will raise prices on everything from electronics to clothing to building houses.
Trump added that such a high rate would make it difficult for Beijing to continue profiting off the U.S. market.
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“They were making from us a trillion dollars a year. They were ripping us off like nobody’s ever ripped us off. And, by the way, we have other countries that were just as bad. If you look at the European Union, it was terrible what they’ve done to us,” Trump said.
Trump said the tariffs are part of a broader economic strategy.
“We’ve been ripped off by every country all over the world. They’re laughing at us. They thought we were stupid people, and we were. And I said, ‘That’s not going to happen,’” Trump said.
Despite warnings from economists that such tariffs could burden American consumers, Trump remained firm and cited price declines during his presidency as evidence of sound economic stewardship. (RELATED: Brit Hume Says US Has Something ‘In Our Favor’ To Outlast China In Trade Fight)
“Since I came in, gasoline is down. Groceries are down. Egg prices are down. Many things are down. Just about everything. You know, you don’t have the drop in fuel and energy and oil like we did. I took it from maybe $3.20, maybe more than that, down into a low, a much lower number. When you have that kind of a drop, you’re not going to have inflation,” Trump said.
Tensions between the U.S. and China escalated quickly after Trump announced a sweeping tariff hike on April 2, prompting immediate retaliation from Beijing. In the following days, tariffs on Chinese imports climbed from 104% to 125%, with Trump later raising them to at least 145% to force renewed negotiations.
By mid-April, some targeted goods faced tariffs as steep as 245%, escalating the trade standoff. Trump also applied 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum, vehicles, and other imports, arguing that the U.S. could no longer tolerate decades of unfair trade practices.
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