Haley Calls Trump Bid for Heavy Tariffs on Imports ‘Ludicrous’
(Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley described as “ludicrous” former President Donald Trump’s support for across-the-board tariffs on imports — as well as a 60% levy on Chinese goods — saying such a move would hurt American consumers.
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“It is ludicrous that he wants to go and raise those tariffs to everything that we import,” Haley said Monday on Bloomberg Television’s Surveillance. “That’s going to affect American families on anything from baby strollers to appliances. Every American family will see at least a $2,800 increase in their taxes.”
Trump has proposed a 60% tariff on all Chinese imports, an approach that would shrink a $575 billion trade pipeline to practically nothing, Bloomberg Economics analysis shows. He’s also floated the idea of 10% across-the-board tariffs on all imports, an idea that has sparked concerns among European Union allies.
“Trump wants to do tariffs across-the-board on every country,” Haley — Trump’s only major remaining rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — said, adding that China should be treated differently than other countries.
US leaders must ensure America isn’t dependent on China economically to the point where Beijing “could pull the rug out” from under Washington, Haley added, citing national security concerns.
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“Nikki Haley has called China a really great friend, gave away hundreds of acres of land in South Carolina to a company controlled by the CCP, and previously opposed President Trump’s tariffs on China,” Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesman, said in response, using an acronym for China’s Communist Party. “Of course Haley is going to continuing simping for China.”
Haley also defended her calls to consider raising the retirement age to curb mounting US debt and to ensure the health of Social Security — a stance which Trump has targeted in campaign ads in a bid to court older voters.
She said she aims to protect those who have already paid into the system while looking at changes for younger generations.
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“We should not ever take away from those who have invested in and those who have been promised. America should always keep their promises. I said we should go and change the rules for those in their 20s,” Haley said. “That’s the problem — those in their 20s, like my kids. For them, we should change the retirement age.”
“So, life expectancy instead of cost-of-living increases. We should do increases based on inflation. We should cap the benefits on the mega-wealthy, and we should expand Medicare Advantage,” she added. “What Donald Trump wants to do is he doesn’t want to touch it so that when Social Security goes bankrupt in 10 years, everybody gets a 24% cut across the board. That’s not how you handle a problem.”
--With assistance from Annmarie Hordern, Jonathan Ferro and Lisa Abramowicz.
(Updates with additional details, quotes from sixth paragraph)
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