Trump Calls Trade Wars ‘Good’ and ‘Easy to Win’
Mr. Trump, at a hastily arranged meeting with industry executives on Thursday, said he would formally sign the trade measures next week
and promised they would be in effect “for a long period of time.”
On Friday, he wrote that the measures would help to reduce the trade deficit, which is
the gap between what the United States exports to other countries and what it imports.
A day after stunning markets, Republican lawmakers
and even his own advisers by announcing stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, President Trump doubled down on his approach on Friday, saying in an early morning tweet that “Trade wars are good, and easy to win.”
Mr. Trump appeared eager to defend his decision to levy sweeping tariffs on all imports
of those metals, issuing a series of morning tweets explaining the need for tariffs.
Markets fell in response to Mr. Trump’s announcement on Thursday
that he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, effectively placing a tax on every foreign shipment of those metals into the United States.
But the doubling down is only likely to further inflame tensions with other nations, which are
already indicating they may take reciprocal measures and place taxes on United States exports.