President Donald Trump brushed off concerns that he is launching the U.S. into a trade war with China in a Wednesday tweet.
When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
“We have a problem with China. They’ve created a trade deficit, and I really blame our representatives and, frankly, our preceding Presidents for this. We have a trade deficit of $500 billion a year. It’s not something we can live with,” Trump declared in a Tuesday meeting with Baltic heads of the state.
The President also tweeted Wednesday morning that:
We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
The Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on 50 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods which the U.S. says makes its goods uncompetitive on the global market and undermine proprietary technology industries domestically. China quickly reciprocated Trump’s action by imposing a similar tariff duty on 50 billon dollars worth of U.S. goods.