Trump Says Tariffs Could Rise to 50% if Companies Try to Exploit US

Warning in Fox News Interview

Aimed at stressing industrial protection to voters

President Donald Trump said on October 25 that tariffs could be raised to as high as 50% if companies investing in the US try to exploit the country. In an interview with Fox News, he said the US auto industry had been eroded by Japan, South Korea and China.

The remarks appeared aimed less at signaling an imminent tariff increase than at underscoring his commitment to protecting US industry ahead of next week's midterm elections. Trump did not give specific examples of how companies investing in the US were exploiting the country. He said companies were returning to the US because they did not want to pay a 25% tariff. “I’m getting it all back,” he said, adding that he had kept tariffs low.

On Iran, Trump said in the interview that the country had to decide whether “to be finished off or make a deal.” The comments were interpreted as leaving open the possibility of a high-intensity military strike while pressuring Tehran to reach an agreement, and as an effort to keep Iran from staging a provocation aimed at the US midterm elections. At a campaign rally in Florida on October 23, Trump said he could launch a military operation against Iran. Markets are concerned that while he may refrain from attacking before the midterms to avoid jolting oil prices, he could order limited airstrikes afterward.

At a campaign rally in Michigan later that day, Trump said the negative fallout from the war in the Middle East, including rising prices, was “not serious.” “I thought gasoline prices could double or triple, but that’s a small price to pay compared with taking nuclear weapons away from fanatics,” he said. “I have no regrets.”

Trump also said trilateral talks among the US, Ukraine and Russia aimed at finding a formula to end the war would be held soon. He did not give a specific timeline.

Hwang Jung-su, New York correspondent, Korea Economic Daily, hjs@hankyung.com