United States President Donald Trump has said the economic chaos and uncertainty left by his new swathe of tariffs is comparative to taking medicine.
The comments were made to reporters as he made his way back from his own golf course in Florida, where he said he was celebrating another “win” at his own golf championship on Sunday by telling America it had to take its “medicine” as the markets faced historic sell-offs in response to his shock tariff announcements.
The President says he spent the weekend — in between rounds of golf — talking to tech leaders and politicians from around the world who are begging to renegotiate tariffs, which are due to go into effect on Wednesday.
Asked on board Air Force One about the catastrophic market reaction to his announcement, Trump said: “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
Trump told reporters on the way back from winning the Senior Club Championship at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, that around 50 world leaders had called to discuss trade. They are “coming to the table” and “want to talk,” he explained.
The president said he was willing to negotiate, but only if countries would help end U.S. trade deficits.
“I’m willing to deal with China, but they have to solve their surplus. We have a tremendous deficit problem with China. They have a surplus of at least a trillion dollars a year,” he said. “We’re not going to lose a trillion dollars for the privilege of buying pencils from China.”
Trump said he had also spoken to four or five of the biggest tech leaders in America and claimed they told him, “We don’t blame you” for the massive market disruption, which has slashed billions off the value of their companies. He declined to name the moguls he spoke to.
“Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something, and we have such a horrible, we have been treated so badly by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen,” he said.
Trump said he had been elected to rip up the global trade system, which would eventually lead to increased U.S. wealth.
He said: “I got elected on that basis. We explained it. You know, the American people understand it a lot better than the media.”
The comments came after Trump posted a similar message to Truth Social, claiming the only way to fix the economic hardships are through tariffs.
“We have massive Financial Deficits with China, the European Union, and many others,” Trump wrote. “The only way this problem can be cured is with TARIFFS, which are now bringing Tens of Billions of Dollars into the U.S.A. They are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold.”
Trump continued: “The Surplus with these Countries has grown during the ‘Presidency’ of Sleepy Joe Biden. We are going to reverse it, and reverse it QUICKLY. Some day people will realize that Tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing!”
