President Trump’s warning of tariffs on neighboring countries, Mexico and Canada, and critical trading partner China got off to a false start on Monday, Feb. 3, with the current administration putting the plan on hold after conversations with Mexico and Canada. A trade war is already brewing with China, who countered with tariffs on U.S. products after a 10% tariff levy on Chinese products took effect.
Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!). But we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” said President Trump.
“There’s no such thing as a one-way trade war. You know, nobody ever punishes the other side without there being a response,” said Sen. Tim Kaine on Monday, Feb. 3.
“It’s like Trump took a grenade and threw it into the economy, and he walked away to see what happens,” said Rob Handfield, professor of operations and supply chain management at North Carolina State University, in a conversation with ABC News.
“In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the… Anyone? Anyone?… the Great Depression, passed the… Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?… raised tariffs in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression,” said Mr. Lorensax, Ferris Bueller’s economics teacher in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”