Steve Bannon Labels Monday 'the Most Important Day of Trump's Presidency'
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Monday praised President Donald Trump’s handling of the “economic war” between the U.S. and China and supported Trump’s new threats of increased tariffs on products coming from China.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted his intention to raise tariffs on products from China.
….of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019
On Monday, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer confirmed that the tariffs would be imposed on Friday due to China’s refusal to honor trade commitments, Politico reported.
During his appearance on the Fox Business show “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” Bannon said Trump was setting the right course.
“I happen to think today was the most important day of Donald Trump’s presidency,” Bannon said.
Bannon noted that Trump has been under significant pressure to cave in to China on trade talks.
“This is the man we elected, period. This is a great president,” Dobbs said.
“Listen, he’s president of the United States because of the rejection of working-class people and middle-class people” and “the managed decline of our country at the hands of people like Hillary Clinton,” Bannon said.
“These globalists and elitists were very comfortable with the managed decline, particularly vis-a-vis the rise of China. And Donald Trump confronted that, particularly in the upper Midwest. This is the reason he won states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.”
Bannon said Trump comprehends the issue better than the so-called experts. “I think Trump understands tariffs are more than taxes. They are about self-empowerment of the working class.”
Bannon said previous administrations would allow China to fall short of its commitments, saying, “The jobs went to China, and the opioids came in.”
“Trump said, ‘I am not going to do this. You’re not going to come back and re-trade us. I am going to hit you with the tariffs,’” he said. “I think this is a very big week in American economic history.”
Bannon said few understand the scale of the conflict between the U.S. and China.
“This is an economic war. We’re going to have fundamental, structural change in the state capitalism that China has,” Bannon said. “We are going to get changes on force technology transfers, subsidies state own industries, intellectual properties.”
Bannon acknowledged that many on Wall Street claim Trump’s tactics will harm the economy but dismissed criticism as fear-mongering.
“It’s all the fear project, just like in Brexit,” he said. “That if you don’t actually get a deal that’s just about buying more soybeans, you’re going to have a collapse of the stock market and economic catastrophe. President Trump has stood up against that.”
Bannon called critics of Trump’s tariff policy the Chinese Communist Party’s “supporters on Wall Street and their supporters in corporate America.” Bannon said they “should be ashamed of themselves for the pressure they put on the president of the United States.”
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