Donald Trump: ‘Our country was built on Tariffs’
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning took to Twitter, as he often does, to lambaste some of his favourite targets: the U.S. Justice Department, the “rigged Russian witch hunt” (a.k.a. the Robert Mueller investigation), and of course, undocumented immigrants.
He also brought up one of his past greatest hits, tariffs, writing that the United States was “built on Tariffs, and Tariffs are now leading us to great new Trade Deals” (capitalization his, not ours).
Our Country was built on Tariffs, and Tariffs are now leading us to great new Trade Deals – as opposed to the horrible and unfair Trade Deals that I inherited as your President. Other Countries should not be allowed to come in and steal the wealth of our great U.S.A. No longer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2018
Of course, tariffs have been a mainstay in Canadian headlines for the past several months, with Trump levying duties on U.S. imports of Canadian steel and aluminum. The U.S. president has recently threatened more tariffs on Canada’s auto industry.
He’s also slapped massive duties on goods from China, Mexico and, most recently, Turkey. Those nations, along with Canada, have come back with retaliatory tariffs of their own.
Many users on Twitter are pointing out the holes in Trump’s latest tweet. Like the fact that no new trade deals have actually been signed:
1. President Trump has only IMPOSED tariffs. He has yet to get any other countries to remove their tariffs or to REMOVE his own tariffs.
2. There are not yet ANY trade deals. NONE.
There is NO evidence that any deals that would eliminate trade barriers are imminent. https://t.co/NpWVgPHon1
— Chad P. Bown (@ChadBown) August 15, 2018
Or that many of the people Trump claims his tariffs will help aren’t really happy with them at all:
When I was in rural Illinois last month, soybean farmers told me they've lost 20-25% of the value of their crops because of Trump's tariffs.
Their biggest concern: Trump has no long-term plan. https://t.co/V4fi3pocU2 https://t.co/quPTZcXezA
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) August 15, 2018
The Wall Street Journal points out that Trump’s action against Turkey actually goes against longstanding U.S. policy of minimizing foreign crises:
The U.S. has long seen it in its interest to tamp down crises abroad. Trump is pouring fuel on the fire with tariffs against Turkey, Greg Ip writes. https://t.co/NTdbCect1G via @WSJ pic.twitter.com/OgaGm6fMKD
— WSJ Graphics (@WSJGraphics) August 15, 2018
Those Boston Tea Party folks are gonna be stunned to learn our country was built on tariffs. https://t.co/N5wCq0SFLt
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) August 15, 2018
[Yahoo]