Trump Says 100 Percent Tariffs on China ‘Not Sustainable’

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the 100 percent tariffs he recently announced on Chinese goods would not hold for long, calling them “not sustainable.”

Trump said on Oct. 10 that the United States would impose an extra 100 percent tariff on China as well as additional export controls on critical software. He said the new measures would be imposed on Nov. 1, but could be enforced “sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China.”

In a segment of his interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” published on Oct. 17, Trump was asked whether his 100 percent tariff on China would stand.

“No,” he said. “It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is. It’s probably not, you know, could stand but they forced me to do that.”

Trump said that the United States is “going to do fine with China,” adding that he gets along with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“I think we’re going to be fine with China, but we have to have a fair deal. It’s got to be fair,” Trump said, adding that “it’s a very complex subject” and that “China has ripped us off from day one.”

The announcement of the additional 100 percent levy followed measures announced by the Chinese communist regime last week.

On Oct. 9, China blacklisted nearly a dozen defense companies operating in the United States and rolled out extensive restrictions on the export of rare earths and other materials critical to semiconductor manufacturing and military equipment.

The following day, the Chinese regime also introduced new port fees on U.S. ships and opened an antitrust investigation into U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm.

“I raised our tariffs to 100 percent on top of what they’re already paying, which is far worse, far worse,” Trump said.

Trump is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Trump said. “We’re going to meet in a couple of weeks. We’re going to meet in South Korea, actually; President Xi and other people, too. But we’re going to meet. We have a separate meeting.”

Trump said that he always had a “great relationship” with China, but added that Beijing is “always looking for an edge” and has “ripped off” the United States for years.

“They took money out. Now it’s reversed,” he said.

Following Trump’s comments on Friday, Wall Street stock futures recovered some losses in early trading.

At 8:14 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up by 10 points, or 0.02 percent. S&P 500 futures were down 11.75 points, or 0.18 percent, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 89.75 points, or 0.36 percent.