Trump: “We Could Do Tremendous Good For Ourselves By Just Not Trading With Other Countries”
President Trump explained the philosophy behind his trade policy during a press conference Friday in the Oval Office: “We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries.” “We lose with Mexico $ 195 billion a year,” Trump said. “If I don’t trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have. I mean, hot tamales? Tomatoes? A couple of things? Basically, they have nothing we need. We have oil. We have everything.”
REPORTER: If I could ask just one question on Moscow, are they bringing with them new proposals? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are bringing with them a proposal to end the war, because I have ended eight wars. I hope you are proud of me. I ended eight wars. I get no credit for it. Did I get the Nobel Prize? No. Although the person that got it was nice enough that she gave it to me. She said, Nobody in the history of the Nobel Prize deserves it more than you. But in Norway, they don’t like me because I think they think I’m a little conservative. REPORTER: Back to interest rates, a rate hike could reassure the bond market. TRUMP: To me, it doesn’t reassure a bond market. To me, you issue a rate cut, because we should be at 1% or half a percent. We should not be at 4%, because everything, as I explained, we could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries. We lose with the European Union $ 200 billion a year. If I did not trade with them, we would lose nothing. Just one swipe of the pen. We lose with Mexico $ 195 billion a year. If I don’t trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have. I mean, hot tamales? Tomatoes? A couple of things? Basically, they have nothing we need. We have oil. We have everything. I don’t want to do that, because we get along very well with the president. We like the president, respect her a lot. But if we did not want to trade with Mexico, if we did not want to trade with Canada, we would save from $ 60 billion a year to $ 90 billion a year just by not trading with Canada. Now, Canada would be in a heap of trouble. I don’t think they would exist. They do 95% of their business with us. If I say we’re not going to trade, that means 95% of their business gets wiped out. I don’t know what they do. But we’d have the lowest interest rate, as we used to 25, 30 years ago when we were smart.
