Fighting Talk

Trump Insists ‘Trade Wars Are Good’ After Global Markets Tumble

The president thinks a war would be “easy to win.”

Donald Trump has insisted that “trade wars are good” after global stocks were sent tumbling by the president’s announcement Thursday that the U.S. will impose huge tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. On Twitter, Trump wrote: “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!” Trump said Thursday that a duty of 25 percent would be imposed on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, with experts and governments around the world predicting other countries will take retaliatory measures and spark a global trade war. “The imposition of a tariff like this will do nothing other than distort trade and ultimately, we believe, will lead to a loss of jobs,” said Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo. “My concern remains that on the back of actions like this we could see retaliatory measures that are put in place by other major economies. That is in no one’s interest.”