President Donald Trump said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the tariffs would make the United States a rich nation.
Trump said, “The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’ll be a very rich country.”
Host Kristen Welker said, “At your cabinet meeting, you said, ‘Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls would cost a couple of bucks more than you would normally.’ Are you saying that the tariffs will cause some prices to go up?”
Trump said, “No, I think the tariffs will be great for us because it will make us rich.”
Welker said, “You said some dolls will cost more. Isn’t that an acknowledgment will make prices to go up?”
Trump said, “I don’t think a beautiful baby girl that’s 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls. They can have three or four dolls. What we were doing with China is unbelievable. We lost hundreds of billions with China.”
Welker said, “When you say three dolls or 30 dolls, will Americans see empty store shelves?”
Trump said, “No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need 250 pencils. They can have five.”
Welker said, “You are basically saying there could be supply shortages.”
Trump said, “I’m saying we don’t need to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don’t need, for junk we don’t need.”
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