US President Donald Trump on Wednesday acknowledged that his tariffs could result in fewer and costlier products in the United States, saying American children might “have two dolls instead of 30 dolls”, but he insisted China would suffer more from his trade war.
The Republican president has tried to reassure a nervous country that his tariffs will not provoke a recession, after a new government report showed the US economy shrank during the first three months of the year.
Trump was quick to blame his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for any setbacks while telling his cabinet that his tariffs meant China was “having tremendous difficulty because their factories are not doing business”, adding that the US did not really need imports from the world’s dominant manufacturer.
“You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open,’” Trump continued, offering a hypothetical. “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. So maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”
His remarks followed a defensive morning after the Commerce Department reported that the US economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.3 per cent during the first quarter.
Behind the decline was a surge in imports as companies tried to front-run the sweeping tariffs on cars, steel, aluminium and almost every country. And even positive signs of increased domestic consumption indicated that purchases might be occurring before the import taxes lead to price increases.
