Kudlow: Blame China, Not Trump

In his new capacity as head of the White House’s National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow has begun a push to create an alliance against China’s bad trade practices. To doubters of President Trump’s recently announced punitive tariffs aimed at China, Kudlow said people should blame China itself, not Trump. Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. wants to rally pro-market allies to push back against China’s unfair trade practices, a senior White House adviser said.

“The damage of our economy comes from China’s restrictive practices. Blame China. They’ve been doing this for decades. Don’t blame Trump,” Larry Kudlow, head of the White House’s National Economic Council, told reporters in Washington.

In threatening to punish China for its abuse of intellectual property, Trump is “doing what everyone in the world has said we should do,” said Kudlow, adding that the administration will have more to say about its efforts to recruit other major economies to support the U.S. position.

“I call it a trade coalition of the willing. I think everybody in the world knows that China has not played by the rules for many years,” he said.

For a second straight day, Kudlow sought to reassure investors about Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products. The White House hasn’t announced a date for tariffs to take effect, and is giving the public about 60 days to offer feedback.

Kudlow emphasized that the tariffs haven’t been enacted, and the administration will consult with a range of parties, including U.S. lawmakers, the agriculture industry and the Chinese government itself. China said Tuesday it prefers to negotiate a solution, but isn’t afraid to retaliate if the U.S. duties take effect.

“It’s nothing around the corner. There’s going to be big discussion about it,” Kudlow said.

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Larry Kudlow on trade: President Trump, the USA mean business