President Trump defends metal tariffs as driving prices down
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday defended his imposition of tariffs on metal imports, as soaring tensions with China fan global fears of an all-out trade war.
"Despite the Aluminum Tariffs, Aluminum prices are DOWN 4%," Trump tweeted, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the metal's price has fallen since early March when Trump slapped tariffs of 10 percent on aluminum and 25 percent on steel.
"People are surprised, I'm not! Lots of money coming into U.S. coffers and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!"
Primarily intended to compensate for China's overproduction, the US tariffs hit allies as well -- but the Trump administration subsequently exempted the European Union, Canada, Mexico and four other economies.
Trump also retweeted one of his own posts from earlier this week which stated "We are not in a trade war with China."
"That war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S," the post read.
The president's comments came as China called on the European Union to take a joint stand against US protectionism after Trump warned he could impose another USD 100 billion of extra tariffs on China's imports, further escalating the confrontation.