Fox Business Network host Dagen McDowell said on Friday that conservatives would be “shouting to the high heavens” if former President Obama had implemented massive tariffs the way President Trump has.
McDowell, speaking on Fox News’s “Outnumbered,” said there has been a lack of criticism for Trump over escalating trade conflicts between the U.S. and other countries.
“If President Obama had pulled what we’ve seen in the last six months, we would be shouting to the high heavens, blowing the roof off this building about how Obama was killing the American farmer,” McDowell said.
{mosads}
Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on China went into effect Friday, costing China roughly $34 billion in import duties.
China accused Trump of starting “the biggest trade war in economic history” and its announced plans to immediately respond with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports including soybeans, seafood, SUVs and crude oil, according to CNN.
“This is just the beginning,” McDowell said.
One out of every three rows of soybeans grown in this country goes to China, McDowell said.
“It hits heartland, it hits the Trump voter,” she said.
Trump has threatened another set of tariffs, worth approximately $16 billion, for later this month — China has promised to respond with additional tariffs on U.S. goods.
“But the president clearly is not stopping there,” McDowell said.
McDowell questioned why Trump did not reach out to longtime U.S. trade allies like Canada and the European Union — two allies on which Trump has also imposed steep tariffs.
Trump initially exempted Mexico, Canada and the EU from his hefty steel and aluminum tariffs, later choosing to move forward with them, citing national security concerns.
Mexico moved forward with its second round of tariffs on Thursday, hitting the U.S. with $3 billion worth of tariffs on agricultural products.