Taking questions at the end of his televised cabinet meeting yesterday, President Trump acknowledged that the imposition of tariffs on China may have adverse consequences. Asked when he would “speak with President Xi of China,” Trump responded:
“Look, it’ll happen. Right now, and I told you before, they’re having tremendous difficulty because their factories are not doing business. They made a trillion dollars with Biden, a trillion dollars, even a trillion one with Biden, selling us stuff, much of it we don’t need. You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way. They have ships that are loaded up with stuff, much of which, not all of it, but much of which we don’t need.”
The video clip below captures the exchange.
President Trump on U.S. tariffs on China: "Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally." pic.twitter.com/h4pYQUvtoc
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 30, 2025
Video of the whole meeting is posted here. The quoted remarks come at 01:55:55.
Via Eric Boehm/Reason.
