President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his trade war with China, claiming that Beijing “probably will eat” the tariffs.
In an interview with ABC News in the Oval Office to mark his first 100 days in office, Trump addressed the criticism his trade policy has prompted by noting that he was simply making good on the promises he made to voters on the campaign trail.
“I said all of these things during my campaign,” Trump added. “I said, ‘You’re gonna have a transition period.’ We’ve been ripped off by every country all over the world.”
But when ABC’s Terry Moran asked Trump whether Americans should be prepared for tough times ahead as a result of his trade policy, Trump replied: “I don’t think so. I think great times are ahead.”
Trump defended his decision to slap 145% tariffs on China, suggesting it was a necessary move even as Moran pointed out that it effectively works as an embargo.
“That’s good,” he said. “They deserve it.”
The president also downplayed concerns that those tariffs would raise prices for American consumers, as top economists have warned.
“You don’t know that,” Trump shot back, as he claimed China is likely to bear the brunt of the trade war.
“China probably will eat those tariffs,” he continued.
The Economist, however, said America will not emerge unscathed from this trade war despite Trump’s confidence.
“If Chinese imports are halted, American shops will soon see empty shelves,” the magazine writes. “In China, American-made goods are rare.”
Trump also, once again, took aim at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during his Michigan rally on Tuesday.
“You’re not supposed to criticize the Fed,” Trump said. “You’re supposed to let him do his own thing — but I know much more than he does about interest rates. Believe me.”
Trump, earlier this month, was forced to pull back his criticism of Powell after it seemed to rattle the markets.
Powell had warned that Trump’s tariffs “are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation.”
“The inflationary effects could also be more persistent,” he told the Economic Club of Chicago.
Powell is not alone in sharing concerns about the impact of Trump’s policies on the economy.
Constance Hunter, the chief economist of the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Wall Street Journal their baseline forecast on the possibility of a U.S. recession within the next year stands at 80% over Trump’s trade policy.
“In order for us to pull back our recession forecast, we would need not only a pullback in the level of tariffs, but an increase in the certainty of the trajectory and pathway going forward,” Hunter said.