‘We Are Going to Proceed with Our Tariffs’ on China, Mnuchin Says

On “Fox News Sunday,” Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that “we are going to proceed with” the $60 billion in tariffs that President Donald Trump threatened against China for its unfair trade practices.

Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum earlier in March to protect the U.S. economy and national security interests, although he announced Thursday he would exempt several countries.

The tariffs against China are designed to punish the nation for its unfair trade practices and its intellectual property theft, among other concerns. Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace that Trump wasn’t joking when he targeted China.

“We are going to proceed with our tariffs,” Mnuchin said. “But we’re simultaneously having negotiations with the Chinese to see if we can reach an agreement. As the president has said, we want to cut the trade deficit $100 billion over the next year. We want to eliminate forced joint ventures, forced technology, and we’re having very productive conversations with them.”

China retaliated Thursday by threatening to impose tariffs of its own on the U.S. Although Mnuchin said he is “cautiously hopeful” that the U.S. can reach an agreement with the Chinese to avoid a trade war, he also said, “We are not putting [the tariffs] on hold unless we have an acceptable agreement that the president signs off on.”

“So, as President Trump said, we’re not afraid of a trade war, but that’s not our objective,” Mnuchin said. “In a negotiation, you have to be prepared to take action. And that’s what President Trump is doing.”

Mnuchin said that the Trump administration has begun tapping into the third part of its three-part economic plan by announcing tariffs and renegotiating unfair trade deals.

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“We’ve been very consistent from day one on tax reform, regulatory relief and trade. And now we are executing on the third part of our plan. I don’t think anybody should be surprised,” Mnuchin said.

“This is a president that absolutely believes in free trade, but wants free and fair trade, and has been very clear since our first meeting at Mar-a-Lago with [Chinese] President Xi that the trade deficit has to be addressed, that they need to open up their markets to our companies, and that’s fair and free reciprocal trade.”

Wallace pointed to the Dow Jones industrial average’s 1,400-point plummet last week and asked Mnuchin if he believed Trump’s tariffs played an important role in that drop. Said Mnuchin, “There’s a lot of different things impacting the stock market.”

“I think the most important thing to focus on is — the market will go up and down in the short term — [yet] the real important issue is: Where will it be longer term?” Mnuchin said. “The market is still up an enormous amount since the election, and we’re confident as we continue in our economic plans that [it] will translate into the market doing better.”

Related: Trump’s Tariffs Said to ‘Fulfill His Campaign Promises’ to Put ‘America First’

Mnuchin said he doesn’t expect to see a negative “big impact on the economy” from the tariffs.

“Again, I think what we’re doing is, long term, very good for the economy, which is pressing for free and fair trade,” Mnuchin said. “And to the extent that China is willing to open up their markets, which they’re making all the right directions on — but if they open up their markets, it’s an enormous opportunity for U.S. companies.”

“It’s probably one of the reasons I was elected — maybe one of the main reasons,” said Trump.

During a speech Thursday at the signing of his presidential memorandum targeting China, Trump said that his administration is “doing things for this country that should have been done for many, many years.”

“We’ve had this abuse by many other countries and groups of countries that were put together in order to take advantage of the United States, and we don’t want that to happen. We’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said. “It’s probably one of the reasons I was elected — maybe one of the main reasons. But we’re not going to let that happen.”

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