US has an edge over China in tariff war

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump defended his use of tariffs that have inflamed tensions with China and Europe, telling an audience of diehard supporters that playing hardball on trade is “my thing.”
“We have really rebuilt China, and it’s time that we rebuild our own country now,” Trump said during about an hour of free-wheeling remarks at a rally outside Columbus, Ohio. He added that Chinese stocks are down, weakening that nation’s bargaining power in the escalating trade war.
Trump continued his focus on tariffs, tweeting that the duties are working “big time” and that imported goods should be taxed or made in the US. He also suggested duties will allow paying down “large amounts of the $21 Trillion in debt that has been accumulated” while reducing taxes for Americans.
“Every country on earth wants to take wealth out of the US, always to our detriment,” Trump tweeted, “I say, as they come, Tax them.”
Trump’s tax cuts, passed in late 2017, haven’t happened in isolation. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the cuts, when combined with new federal spending, will push the US budget deficit to $1 trillion in 2020. That’s forced the US Treasury to lift note and bond sales to levels last seen in the aftermath of the recession that ended in 2009. The president also tweeted that the news media “purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!”
“Tariffs are working far better than anyone ever anticipated” and would make the US “much richer than it is today,” the president tweeted.