Investor Kevin O’Leary called on the U.S. to impose even heavier tariffs against China, telling Fox News’ Trey Gowdy on Sunday that the “Chinese only understand the stick.”
Pointing to Congress’ bipartisan ban on TikTok as just one example of how the Chinese do not compete on a level playing field, the “Shark Tank” star recalled how they used the U.S. judicial system against Americans.
“Congress on a bipartisan basis said, 'Look, it's a spyware and we want to shut it down January 19th.’ It's an act of Congress, it's the demand of the people of America, they made that decision,” he said. “The Chinese came here, the supreme leader who controls it, and he used our court system to sue us, to litigate that from happening, suing the American people. Do you think I can do that in China? Not a chance in hell I could do that in China. So, I’m OK if he wants to use our legal system against us, but I have to do the same thing. I want access to their courts, I want access to their IP, they have to pay the same price to list their companies that I do, and they don’t because they don’t have the same compliance costs, and we should kick them off the exchanges.
“I want to go to DEFCON-19 against China,” O’Leary added. “I don’t like tariffs against anybody else, but I want to bring them to their knees with a blowtorch to deal with us fairly. And that is why you use tariffs. You squeeze them because the Chinese only understand the stick. I’ve said it countless times, they understand the stick, they respect the stick, give them the stick. And believe me, after enough pain, because their economy has got some fractures in it, they will say, 'Okay, just kidding. We will play on a level playing field.' I want heavy, heavy, heavy tariffs on China, more than we have, even more, because I live with it. They steal our IP. I can’t say enough negative stuff. I'm sorry, I’m just telling the truth."
The Chinese only understand the stick and with enough economic pain, they will come to the table and play fairly. I don’t like tariffs against anybody else, but we need to bring China to its knees with HEAVY tariffs then we can have a level playing field. pic.twitter.com/NpVH9sFriC
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) October 7, 2024