Trump Explains His Position on Tariffs to Fox Business News
President Donald Trump said European officials have offered to drop their 10 percent tariffs on cars if the U.S. drops its 2.5 percent tariffs on cars and its 25 percent tariffs on light trucks. But he declined the offer. "I wouldn't do that deal," he said. "I would do it for certain products, not for cars." He said it's not a good deal because "a Chevrolet will never sell like a Mercedes does here."
"The chicken tax, that's a great thing for us," he said, referring to the nickname for the 25 percent tax on trucks. That tax came about because of European refusal to accept U.S. chicken imports. "That's our best segment by far," Trump said. He was speaking to Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business News, which broadcast the interview on March 22.
When Bartiromo asked about his comment that the tariffs will stay on Chinese goods after a deal, he replied, "The first $50 billion of goods, we want to keep that, we need that." He was silent on the fate of the 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of goods. He said the China deal will probably happen, adding, "I think they need it very badly."
Trump acknowledged that many are skeptical about the possibility of a Section 232 auto action. "People are always saying 'What do cars have to do with national security?' What poses our national security risk is our balance sheet," he said. He said the fact that U.S. consumers buy more European goods than European buy American goods is because the EU "treats us as badly as China. They don't take our product, they tax us tremendously, they tariff us tremendously."
Bartiromo asked if Trump has a Plan B if Congress doesn't ratify his NAFTA replacement. "Maybe you go pre-NAFTA," he said. "NAFTA was one of the worst deals ever made." Trump claimed that the U.S. is winning more cases at the World Trade Organization "because they know my attitude, if they don't treat us fairly, we're out." The U.S. has won cases consistently since the system began, but so have other countries who have brought cases against the U.S.