Republican strategist Scott Jennings didn’t hold back Monday when CNN claimed Trump’s tariffs would help China. He flat-out scoffed at the idea.
Trump had just announced reciprocal tariffs to fix what he called “horrendous imbalances” in trade. He revealed the plan in a Rose Garden event. CNN hosts Richard Quest and Abby Phillip weren’t impressed.
“We’re going to have to see what the administration comes up with, with these 70-plus countries that have called,” Jennings said. “And I think people are also just going to have to take the president here and his administration at their word when they talk about reorganizing and reordering the global economic order so that it doesn’t unfairly punish the working class of the United States.”
Jennings pushed back hard on the China angle. “I just — I don’t believe that the rest of the free world is going to wake up and say, ‘You know what? Let’s get behind the Chinese Communist Party and let them lead us into the future,’” he said. “That will not happen. That will not happen. That will not happen.”
Trump tightened the screws on China by closing a tariff loophole. He slapped a 25 to 30% duty on packages, removing the exemption for purchases under $800. Jennings clashed with both hosts over the impact.
Phillip jumped in. “Like, seriously, like isn’t it already the case that China is already using its economic influence to build a whole block on the global south?” Jennings replied, “I know what they do. But that’s coercion. And what you’re talking about is people —”
Quest pushed harder. “Oh, what is the United States doing?” Jennings fired back. “Willingly — you’re talking about willingly following them off the cliff. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Quest wouldn’t let go. “Excuse me. And what is this tariff, if not coercion?” he asked.
That’s when John Carney from Breitbart jumped in. “Well, the reason why China will never become what the United States is to the world right now is because they insist on running a trade surplus with the rest of the world,” he said. “They will not do what the United States does, which is absorb the overproduction of the rest of the world. This is why Europe will be on our side. Europe needs to export to us. China needs to export to us. China will never become the buyer of last resort.”