President Donald Trump during a visit to Las Vegas touted the tariff system, saying it “made so much money.”
“Years ago, 1870 to 1913, we didn’t have an income tax. What we had is tariffs, where foreign countries came in and they stole our jobs, they stole our companies, they stole our products, they ripped us off. Then we went to a tariff system. The tariffs system made so much money. It was when we were the richest from 1870 to 1913,” Trump said.
“Then we brilliantly came in with the income tax. We don't want others to pay. Let's have our people pay. Then you had the depression in 1928, 1929. I call it 1929. That was a bad time. But you didn’t have tariffs. You had tariffs that ended in 1913. It was the richest our country ever was,” he added.
Trump said Monday that he expects to put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on Feb. 1, while declining to flesh out his plans for taxing Chinese imports.
Trump threatened tariffs of as much as 60% on China during his campaign but appeared to temper his plans after a phone call last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said Monday there would be more discussions with his counterpart in the world’s second largest economy.
Trump is placing a big bet that his executive actions can cut energy prices and tame inflation and that the tariffs will strengthen the economy instead of exposing consumers to higher prices. But it’s unclear whether his orders will be enough to foster the growing economy with lower prices that he promised voters.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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