Maria Bartiromo: 'I don't think the U.S. has any choice but to get tough' with China
Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo said on “America’s Newsroom” Friday, “I don't think the U.S. has any choice but to get tough” as the Trump administration moved ahead with increased tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo believes America only have one choice when it comes to trade with China.
During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday, Bartiromo said, “I don't think the U.S. has any choice but to get tough” as the Trump administration moved ahead with increased tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
The move came after a round of trade talks between the U.S. and China on Thursday failed to produce an agreement.
The new tariffs raised the import taxes of those goods from 10 percent to 25 percent at 12:01 a.m. Friday as talks were set to continue Friday.
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“I think it was pretty extraordinary that the Chinese backtracked on all of the things that the two had agreed upon within these last 10 rounds of trade talks,” Bartiromo said on Friday.
She added, “The big ticket items are forced transfer of technology, stealing intellectual property which has cost our companies, American companies, tens of billions of dollars. The Chinese are reluctant to make it a law, change their laws to say no stealing of IP, change their laws to say no forced transfer of technology. So look, the U.S. -- I don't think the U.S. has any choice but to get tough.”
The two world’s largest economies were nearing a trade deal to open up the Chinese market to American companies, but negotiations fell apart when China called for changes to the text that served as a blueprint for a pact, the New York Times reported. U.S. negotiators have also accused China of reneging on its commitments.
Trump responded in a Sunday tweet by threatening to raise existing tariffs to 25 percent and impose new ones on billions of dollars in Chines imported goods.
“These are really important issues. The president has been very clear we’re not going to take it anymore. And so if it's not the deal that he’s talking about, then I can't see him going through with it,” Bartiromo said.
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The bulk of goods facing increase tariffs are items such as circuit boards, vehicle parts and machinery, according to the Wall Street Journal. The proposed tariffs on the reminder of Chinese imports – the $200 billion worth of goods – would no doubt affect consumers. Those goods include iPhones, laptops, clothing and other everyday products.
“The U.S. Economy is really going well. And if you’re going to fight back and be pushing back on China, now is the time to do it when we just came off 3.2 percent economic growth, when we’re talking about growth of about 3 percent year over year in 2018 and when jobs are plentiful and unemployment is at record lows,” Bartiromo said.
“It is going to take some oomph out of the economy though.”
She then went on to explain why, attributing economists she had spoken with about the situation.
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“If we don’t get a deal it’s going to cut 2/10 of a percent out of growth in the U.S. and it’s going to cut 4/10 of a percent out of the Chinese economy” Bartiromo said.
“So I think both sides want to deal but the Chinese probably need it a lot more than the U.S. do frankly.”
Fox News reporter Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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