Corker blasts Trump’s ‘ready, fire, aim’ trade policy

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is ripping President Trump’s moves on trade, saying there’s no “rhyme or reason” to his policies and tariffs targeting China.

“The United States just seems to wake up and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to what we’re doing — it’s kind of a ready, fire and aim,” Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

Corker called the Trump administration’s latest tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods from China “misrepresented.” Trump announced the tariffs on Monday.

“This is a tax on Americans — Americans are going to be paying,” Corker responded.

The Chinese government announced Tuesday that it would retaliate against the new U.S. tariffs by imposing tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. exports.

Trump fired back, declaring that he was “ready to go” on imposing tariffs on another $267 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Corker acknowledged that China is “taking advantage of the United States and many other countries” on issues such as intellectual property and access to markets.

“But again, nothing is articulated out there as to what we are attempting to achieve” with the tariffs on China, he said.

“When we’re using tariffs you should be saying that we want this behavior changed, I don’t see that occurring.”

— Molly Hooper