Former national security adviser John Bolton suggested Tuesday that he doesn’t believe China will cut a deal with President Trump amid the back-and-forth tariff war.
Instead, the former Trump official said import tax increases will only push companies into the hands of Beijing.
“What Trump is doing is a huge opportunity for China worldwide. These tariffs are a form of economic illiteracy.” Bolton said during an appearance on CNN’s “AC360” on Tuesday evening. “Trump has no idea really what he’s talking about. He doesn’t understand how tariffs works.”
“He has said as recently as a few days ago, he views trade surpluses and deficits as like a profit and loss statement, which they certainly are not,” he continued. “So, what he’s doing has put us in a very vulnerable position and probably in the worst position possible to go after the real country problem in the international trading system, which is China.”
His criticism came just before Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs went into effect early Wednesday morning. The latest round of import taxes included a 104 percent tariff on China — levied by the White House after Chinese officials issued retaliatory tariffs against the 34 percent tariffs announcement earlier this month. Beijing was already under a 20 percent tax.
China responded quickly with an additional 50 percent tariff, bringing the total import tax on the U.S. to 84 percent. The nation’s Ministry of Commerce called out Trump’s trade measures as “typical, unilateral and protectionist bullying,” vowing to deal with it accordingly.
The threat of sky-high prices on U.S. consumers in the wake of the trade war has left a gloomy cloud over the stock market and investors alike amid a divide between GOP members who have bucked Trump’s trade authority.
Bolton, who also previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said concerns could be mitigated by creating more unity with U.S. allies who have also raised concerns over China.
“Instead of taking on the country that’s stolen our intellectual property for decades, among other things, by gathering our allies together, all of whom also suffer from China’s intellectual property theft and engaging in concerted action, we are at war with our largest trading partners while we are about to go to war with China as well,” he said.
“It simply makes no sense, and it’s just sad and depressing that more Republicans haven’t stood up and said that this is illiteracy,” Bolton added.