US President Donald Trump said that most of his predecessors had failed trade policies, while he had achieved success in this area by using tariffs as a foreign policy tool.
Points of attention
- Donald Trump boasts of settling at least six wars using tariffs as a foreign policy tool, emphasizing the successes of his trade policy.
- Trump links tariffs to national security concerns and highlights their role in resolving conflicts, such as those with Pakistan and Azerbaijan.
Trump has boasted about his tariffs as tools for ending wars
"We've had presidents who were lousy businessmen. I liked Ronald Reagan, but Ronald Reagan was bad at trade," Trump said.
Host Larry Kudlow countered: "I remember the Reagan days well... He was tougher on trade than you..."
In response, Trump pointed out that Reagan allowed Japan and Germany to come into the American market. “They came in and took our car market,” he said.
According to the head of the White House, "if you look at every president over the last 50 years, they have been bad at trade."
But I'm not bad at trading. I'm very good at trading.
Donald Trump
President of the United States
Trump also emphasized the successes of his tariff policy and linked it to national security issues.
He reiterated that he had settled eight wars, of which "at least six were settled by tariffs."
In other words, I said: if you don't stop the war, I will impose tariffs on you, because I don't want to see people killed... The Prime Minister of Pakistan said: President Trump saved at least 10 million lives when he made us stop the war (with India, — ed.) because they were planning to go nuclear. In my opinion, without tariffs, it wouldn't have been possible.
Trump, he said, applied the same approach to Azerbaijan.
The war lasted, I think, 32 years. I solved it in one day… We solved that war in about a day and a half.
He also noted that India is currently "buying very little" of Russian oil.
They cut sharply, and I only pressed them a little.
Trump emphasized that all these arguments should be taken into account by the Supreme Court, which will consider the legality of introducing tariffs for national security reasons.
We are waiting for the big Supreme Court decision… I hope the Supreme Court does what is right for the country.
