Last week President Trump announced a new 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent hike on aluminum imports. Foreign leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the move "unacceptable" and the European Union threatened to respond to the U.S. with their own tariff.
Try it, Trump dared. He'll just add a new tax on European cars.
British Prime Minister Theresa May shared her own "deep concerns" with Trump directly in a phone call on Sunday. What he should have done was pursue "multilateral action," May reportedly told the president.
At least one person sees where Trump is coming from.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), one of Congress's more moderate Democrats, is siding with the president in his explanation of China's trade practices.
“When you look at who produces the steel in the world, 50 percent of the steel produced in the world comes from China. The United States is the largest importer of the steel,” Manchin said.
“Connect the dots. Even though they’re saying it might not come directly from China, it comes ... through other countries.”
Knowing China's M.O., Manchin "welcomes" Trump's plan.
While other lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) agree China is an economic aggressor, he argued Trump's tariffs will do nothing to rein them in. He's making a "huge mistake," Graham told CBS Sunday.
“Your solution has let China off the hook,” Graham appealed to the president.
What Trump needs to do, the senator suggested, was reenter the U.S. into the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Judging by his Twitter timeline this weekend, Trump appears to have made up his mind, offering Americans this "easy" explanation for his actions.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2018