Trump On Tariffs: "Countries That Were Ripping Us Off Now Paying Us Hundreds Of Billions of Dollars"

US President Donald Trump, during his annual State of the Union address, defended his sweeping tariffs on foreign countries, saying those who "ripped the US for years are now paying billions of dollars. The Republican leader asserted that the tariffs will replace the modern-day system of income tax - a claim that he had made at the beginning of his second term. "As time goes by, I believe that tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love," Trump said. According to Trump, one of the primary reasons for the US' economic turnaround is tariffs. "I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis. Everything was working well. Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars. They were ripping us so badly," he said.