President Trump’s newly minted chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow defended the administration’s escalation of tariffs targeting China over intellectual property theft, accusing the Chinese government of violating international trade laws.
In an interview on AM 970 in New York, Kudlow told host John Catsimatidis that no tariffs against China have actually been implemented yet, but that the decision was “necessary” to combat China’s illegal practices.
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“No tariffs have been implemented. Now, they may be over time, they may be, depending on whether China wants to talk to us and negotiate,” Kudlow said. “A lot of this is going to depend on China. So far China has not responded to President Trump on these … you know, they’re stealing our technology, they have tall trade barriers, and they’re breaking a lot of laws.”
“President Trump is right,” Kudlow added. “We have to do this. We have to get China to change its behavior. It’s been two decades, and they’re still stealing our intellectual property. They’re still forcing technology turnovers from our businesses to them. They still have high tariffs. They still have trade barriers. They still have market closings instead of market openings.”
Stock markets plummeted this week over news that the Trump administration is considering an additional $100 billion tariff package after a series of moves and countermoves by the U.S. and China.
The White House has largely defended the market volatility resulting from President Trump’s proposed tariffs, while the president himself has repeatedly insisted that the U.S. is not in a trade war with China. Kudlow echoed those claims on Friday.
“We are not in a trade war,” Kudlow told a group of reporters at the White House. “What this is is an attempt to right some of the wrongs with respect to China.”
“China is the problem. Blame China, not Trump,” he added.