Trump Rips WaPo for ‘Typically Bad Reporting’ on China Tariffs

“Fake News Washington Post” published a “phony” headline biased against President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China as part of its “typically bad reporting,” the chief executive said in a tweet Thursday.

“The Fake News Washington Post, Amazon’s ‘chief lobbyist,’ has another (of many) phony headlines, ‘Trump Defiant As China Adds Trade Penalties.’ WRONG!” Trump tweeted. “Should read, ‘Trump Defiant as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, Will End Barriers And Massive I.P. Theft.’ Typically bad reporting!”

Trump announced 25 percent tariffs Tuesday on about 1,300 products from China, collectively valued at $50 billion, beginning after May 11. The president said he hopes to level the economic playing field for U.S. firms and punish China for decades of unfair trade practices and intellectual property rights thefts, among other concerns. China retaliated by announcing its own tariffs on U.S. products totaling $3 billion.

Trump noted on Twitter that The Post apparently did not approve of the president’s actions taken against China to protect U.S. workers and companies.

The Fake News Washington Post, Amazon’s “chief lobbyist,” has another (of many) phony headlines, “Trump Defiant As China Adds Trade Penalties.” WRONG! Should read, “Trump Defiant as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, Will End Barriers And Massive I.P. Theft.” Typically bad reporting!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2018

Trump has ripped The Post repeatedly for being owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who bought the storied daily newspaper and site in 2013. Trump also blasted Amazon on Twitter this Tuesday for “costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy.”

Amazon’s stocks dropped after news of Trump’s criticism of the company broke last week.

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Trump has frequently aimed his ire at The Post, The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets for what he claims is bias against him, his administration, and his “America First” and “Make America Great Again” agendas.

The president took to Twitter on Wednesday to defend the China tariffs, saying, “We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!”

We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow also defended Trump’s strong actions, saying Wednesday on Fox Business Networks’ “Varney & Co. “that he is “really the first president to fight back” against China.

“Blame China — not President Trump — because [the unfair trade practices] have been going on for many years,” Kudlow said. “Every country in the world knows this. Every analyst knows this is the case. Somebody’s got to deal with it. President Trump is going to deal with it.”

Related: Trump Is ‘First President to Fight Back’ Against China, Kudlow Says

Before Trump’s tariffs go into effect, the U.S. and China will continue negotiations with the hope of reaching an agreement both countries can support.

“What you’ve got is the early stages of a process that will include tariffs, comments on the tariffs, then ultimate decisions and negotiations. There’s already back-channel talks going on,” Kudlow said, predicting that there would be a “pot of gold” at “the end of the rainbow” leading to “better economic growth.”

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.

(photo credit, article image: Donald Trump at Aston, PA, CC BY 2.0, by Michael Vadon)