‘Should Have Done This Years Ago’: Trump Justifies New Tariffs, Hints at Benefits for Americans
Donald Trump stated that the United States should have implemented such tariffs long ago, claiming it would have generated significant revenue earlier.
A few days after unveiling his updated list of tariffs targeting more than a dozen countries, US President Donald Trump on Monday defended the decision and mentioned that the country should have taken similar action years back.
While addressing the media, Trump added that with the newly introduced tariffs, the US would witness a substantial inflow of funds.
He also hinted that some Americans could potentially receive a dividend or a monetary payout as a result of these tariffs levied on America’s trading partners.
“We’re going to reduce our national debt. There’s a large amount of money coming in, far more than what the country has ever seen—running into hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters.
“There’s a possibility of giving a dividend or some kind of payout to our citizens. I’d say middle-income and lower-income groups could receive this. But one of the major objectives is bringing down the debt,” the US President said.
“At the moment, hundreds of billions are flowing into the country—we should’ve taken this step years ago,” he said.
“I had already done this in my first term with China. We couldn’t go further because Covid struck. But China was paying us hundreds of millions in tariffs back then. Then [Joe] Biden messed it all up,” he added.
