Trump Evasive on Whether He'll Hike Tariffs on China as a COVID-19 Punishment
During a Fox News town hall held at the Lincoln Memorial May 3, President Donald Trump was asked if he would hike tariffs on Chinese goods as a punishment for its role in the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. “Well, it's the ultimate punishment, I will tell you that,” Trump said. He said he didn't want to say “because, you know, we're all playing a very complicated game of chess or poker. Name whatever you want to name, but it's not checkers -- that, I can tell you. We have a very complicated game going.”
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He said that Chinese negotiators asked for Trump to end the Section 301 tariffs. “I say, we're not going to get rid of tariffs. You got to treat our country with respect. You've been ripping off our country for many years,” the president said. He also said that if China doesn't fulfill its purchase promises over the next two years, “we’ll terminate the deal,” but did not say what that meant.
Trump was also asked questions by viewers of the TV show, and one man told him that the tariffs “add up to almost $60,000 in monthly additional costs for my operations. Lifting these tariffs would help us speed the recovery for many of us by allowing those funds to be used to hire workers, invest in equipment, and recoup some of the cash we've spent to weather the current economic situation. Would you consider permanently or even temporarily reducing or eliminating those tariffs?”
Trump said the administration is looking at different options, but then said, “but you have to remember, I've taken those tariffs and given a lot of them to the farmers, and farmers that would have been really forced out of business by China when they were targeted.”
When a journalist asked Trump if he should tell the viewer to move his supply chain to another country, Trump replied, “The farmers are getting big payments. And, by the way, they are the most incredible people. They don't even want the payments.” He also disagreed with the premise of the viewer's question, that the tariffs are costing him more than $700,000 annually. He said China “paid for that tax. It wasn't our people. They paid for that tax. They devalued their currency.”