Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Amid trade fight, Trump says he’ll ‘make it up’ to farmers
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that farmers could be adversely affected by the escalating tariff dispute with China, but he promised to make it up to them, saying they “will be better off than they ever were.”
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump addressed the Chinese threat to slap tariffs on soybeans and other agriculture staples grown in rural America, a move that could hit Midwestern farmers, many of whom are strong supporters of the president.
“If during the course of the negotiation they want to hit the farmers because they think that hits me. I wouldn’t say that’s nice, but I tell you our farmers are great patriots,” Trump said. “They understand that they’re doing this for the country. We’ll make it up to them. In the end they’re going to be much stronger than they are right now.”
China is threatening the tariffs in response to Trump moving to enact protectionist measures as punishment for Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property.
The U.S. bought more than $500 billion in goods from China last year and now is planning or considering penalties on some $150 billion of those imports. The U.S. sold about $130 billion in goods to China in 2017 and faces a potentially devastating hit if China responds in kind.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was working with his team “to determine how best to respond to China’s attack on American farmers” and had asked the Agriculture Department to provide him with a plan to protect U.S. farmers.
As the economic saberrattling shakes global markets, Trump said Monday he had a good relationship with China and with President Xi Jinping but repeated his claim that China has been “taking advantage of the United States for many years.” He added that he blames not China but American leaders for creating a “lopsided” set of trade rules.
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted about the “STUPID TRADE” with China, saying that when a Chinese-made vehicle is sent to the U.S., the tariff is only 2.5 percent, while American cars exported to China are slapped with a 25 percent tariff.
China charges total duties of 25 percent on most imported cars — a 10 percent customs tariff plus a 15 percent auto tax. Since December 2016, Beijing also has charged an additional 10 percent on “super-luxury” vehicles priced above $200,000.
The president made fixing the trade imbalance with China a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, where he frequently used incendiary language to describe how Beijing would “rape” the U.S. economically.
But even as Trump cozied up to Xi and pressed China for help with derailing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, he has ratcheted up the economic pressure and threatened tariffs, a move opposed by many fellow Republicans.
The new White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said Sunday that a “coalition of the willing” — including Canada, much of Europe and Australia — was being formed to pressure China and that the U.S. would demand that the World Trade Organization, an arbiter of trade disputes, be stricter on Beijing. And he said that although the U.S. hoped to avoid taking action, Trump “was not bluffing.”
“This is a problem caused by China, not a problem caused by President Trump,” Kudlow said on