As he flirted with the idea of a third term in office, president Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday evening that the tariffs imposed by the United States this week will be general, scotching the rumour that they will be initially confined to a smaller number of countries.
As he returned to Washington, DC, from his habitual weekend retreat in Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump spoke with the media pool on board Air Force One, with Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary, at his shoulder.
The anticipation of this week’s volley of tariffs, a policy of which Lutnick has been a vociferous champion, has been greeted with foreboding across Europe and has led to alarmed forecasts about the possible negative implications for Ireland’s economy and future economic model.
“I don’t know who told you about 10 or 15 countries. You didn’t hear it from me. You’d start with all countries. So, let’s see what happens. There are a lot of countries involved. I haven’t heard a rumour about 10 or 15 countries. We would be talking about all countries. There isn’t a cut-off,” Trump said.
[ Explainer: How would Ireland be affected in US-EU trade war?Opens in new window ]
“If you look at the history and go to certain places – go to Asia and look at every single country in Asia and what they have done to the United States in trade. I wouldn’t say anybody is treated as fairly or nicely. We are going to be much more generous to them.”
Throughout his usual open-session briefing, Trump repeated the point that the tariffs would be “generous” to the United States’s trading partner countries who run a trade surplus.
“The tariffs will be far more generous than those countries were to us. Meaning they will be kinder than those countries were to the United States of America over the decades. They’ve ripped us off like no country has ever been ripped off in history. And we are going to be much nicer than they were to us. But it is substantial money for the country nevertheless.”
President Trump was coy about his ambitions to seek a third term in office, having told Kristen Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning that he was “not joking” about the possibility of running again in 2028, claiming that there are “methods” available to circumvent the 22nd amendment limiting presidents to two terms in the White House.
“I’m not looking at that but I’ll tell ya, I have had more people ask me about having a third term – which in a way is a fourth term because the other election was totally rigged. But I just don’t want the credit for the second one because Biden did such a bad job. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m so popular to tell you the truth. We have a long way to go before we think about that.”
He also voiced cautious criticism of the role of Russian president Vladimir Putin on the proposed peace deal with Ukraine but stated his belief that he would not go back on his word.
“I don’t think he is going to go back on his word. I have known him a long time. We have always gotten along. I think he will be okay. I was disappointed in a certain way with some of the things that were said over the last day or two having to do with Zelenskiy because whether he considers Zelenskiy not credible, he is supposed to be making a deal with him. Whether you like him or don’t like him. I certainly wouldn’t want to put secondary tariffs on Russia.
“We just want to see thousands of soldiers a week stop dying. Because they are dying at numbers, probably we haven’t seen since the second World War. It’s a shame. I think we are making progress, step by step.
“There is tremendous hatred between the leaders if you can call the whole situation leaders. But I think we will get that done. The Middle East – a lot of things are happening with respect to Iran. We’re gonna see if we can get something done and if not, it’s going to be a bad situation, very, very bad.”
