The “most beautiful world in the dictionary is tariff,” former President Donald Trump said during a Tuesday appearance at the Economic Club of Chicago.
Trump received a warm welcome ahead of his interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, who noted that Vice President Kamala Harris was given the same opportunity to sit down and discuss her economic vision but has declined to do so at this point.
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The former president explained that the main difference between himself and Harris economically, at least, is that he is “about growth.”
“She’s got no growth whatsoever. And we’re all about growth. We’re going to bring companies back to our country. You look at even today, as I was driving over, I see these empty, old, beautiful like steel mills and factories that are empty and falling down,” Trump said, noting that “some have been converted to senior citizens homes.”
“But that’s not going to do the trick. And we’re going to bring the companies back. We’re going to lower taxes still further for companies that are going to make their product in the USA,” Trump vowed before shifting to tariffs.
“We’re going to protect those companies with strong tariffs. Because I’m a believer in tariffs,” Trump said, acknowledging that Micklethwait is anti-tariff.
“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff. My favorite word,” Trump said, calling it a “beautiful world.”
Trump noted that “China is building massive auto plants in Mexico, and they’re going to build them, and they’re going to take those cars and sell them into the United States.”
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“They’re very near the border, and they’re going to have all the advantages and none of the disadvantages. And that’s going to be the end of Michigan,” Trump said, telling a brief story about someone he knows building plants in Mexico, only to abandon the project when they heard Trump was running.
“They abandoned the project when they saw that you were winning and doing well,” he said, quoting that unnamed individual.
When pressed by Micklethwait on tariffs, who argued the effects would be massive, Trump agreed but flipped it around, saying it would be tremendously “positive.”
“I know how committed you are to this. And it must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong,” Trump said, as the audience seemed to support Trump’s arguments.
“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff,” Trump said as Micklethwait continued to press back.
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