US President Donald Trump engaged in a heated exchange with a reporter on July 31 during a White House press event held shortly after he signed a series of executive actions. The measures are aimed at strengthening America's trade position through expanded reciprocal tariffs.
The confrontation began when Trump was questioned about his focus on tariffs in what would be his second term. The reporter asked why he was invoking a 1977 statute, reportedly never used before, for such measures now, and not during his first term, despite the potential for massive revenue.
“You could have taken in billions upon billions of dollars in your first term,” the reporter asked, “but you waited until your second term?”
Trump swiftly retorted, “Yeah, because in my first term, I was fighting lunatics like you who were trying to do things incorrectly and inappropriately to a president that was duly elected.”
Trump went on to defend his record, pointing to his administration's tariff policies aimed at China. “We did do certain tariffs in the first term. If you look at China, we took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China,” he said.
Trump also cited the global outbreak of COVID-19 as one of the reasons why he held back on further tariff action earlier.
“When Covid came, the last thing I was going to do was tell France and Italy and Spain and a couple of other countries that we're going to hit you with tariffs,” Trump said.
He accused the media of downplaying his trade efforts, claiming that his administration had collected hundreds of billions in tariffs during his first term, “but you people didn't cover it very well.”
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According to a White House statement cited by Fox News, the latest executive actions are intended to “protect the United States against foreign threats to the national security and economy… by securing fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade relationships to benefit American workers, farmers, and manufacturers and to strengthen the United States' defence industrial base.”
The announcement follows a new trade agreement between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The deal sets a uniform 15% tariff on automobiles and various goods exchanged between the US and the EU. According to Fox News, Von der Leyen said that the agreement includes a commitment by Europe to buy $150 billion worth of American energy, along with $600 billion in additional investments in the US market.
