Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday staunchly defended his largely criticized second-term economic plan to impose across-the-board tariffs on imports — and minimized the Jan. 6 riots, arguing there was a peaceful transfer of power, even as he still insisted the election was rigged.
“The primary scene in Washington was hundreds of thousands — the largest group of people I’ve ever spoken before,” Trump said, describing Jan. 6, 2021. “And it was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol.”
The former president’s event in Chicago was before a receptive crowd, a downtown banquet room full of the Economic Club of Chicago’s members and their guests, who often applauded the former GOP president’s digs at moderator John Micklethwait, Bloomberg editor-in-chief, and at the “fake media.”
“To me, the world’s most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariffs. It’s my favorite word. It needs a public relations firm ... If I’m going to be president of this country, I’m going to put a 100, 200, 2,000% tariff. They’re not going to sell one car in the United States,” Trump said, referring to Mexico.
Trump’s second visit to Chicago this year was much less chaotic than his July appearance before a National Association of Black Journalists conference, in which he questioned Harris’s racial identity. That shortened session was full of incendiary comments from the ex-president, including claims of undocumented immigrants taking “Black jobs” and the Democratic presidential nominee of “only promoting Indian heritage.”
But on Tuesday, the former president still sparked plenty of controversy — refusing to say whether he has been in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and downplaying the violence of Jan. 6. Trump said he would put tech mogul Elon Musk in charge of “cost-cutting” should he win, and said he should have the right to discuss interest rates with the Federal Reserve chair.
“I think I should have the right to say … comment as to whether or not interest rates should go up or down,” Trump said.
As for Jan. 6, Trump said the scene that day “was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol.” He downplayed that it was his supporters who stormed the Capitol to try to stop Congress from formally counting Electoral College votes that made Joe Biden the president.
“And I’ll tell you what, those people that did go down, which was a tiny fraction of the people that went to Washington,” he said. “Because there were hundreds of thousands of people, and I don’t know — what, you had what 500, 6-700 people go down to the Capitol.”
According to the U.S. Justice Department, “more than 1,532 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 571 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony.”
When asked “yes or no” whether he has spoken to Putin since leaving office, a claim made by veteran journalist Bob Woodward in his latest book, Trump refused to answer.
“Well I don’t comment on that,” Trump said. “But I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing. If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing and not a bad thing in terms of a country.”
Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists in June wrote a letter expressing fear that Trump’s economics proposals, which also include deporting millions of migrant workers, would “reignite” an inflation level that is nearly back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Many economists aren’t fans of Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic agenda, but they have argued that her plan would leave the inflation outlook unchanged.
Trump challenged Micklethwait’s resistance to his tariff plan, including that 40 million jobs could be jeopardized by his plan.
“It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong,” he said to laughs.
Trump argued that if you make tariffs, “so high, so horrible, so obnoxious,” factories will come back to America.
Trump was also met with laughter when he repeatedly called the 44th president by his full name, “Barack Hussein Obama,” a dog whistle Trump has used for years to falsely suggest his Democratic predecessor is Muslim.
Micklethwait reminded the president several times about the dangers of tariffs on imports, including its effects on trade, jobs and consumers.
Trump has proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China and up to 20% of a tariff on everything else the U.S. imports. He has repeatedly claimed that foreign countries pay tariffs — but those are paid by the countries that import the goods.
After the event, Gov. J.B Pritzker called Trump a “rambling, incoherent, insulting old man determined to drive our economy into the deepest ditch he can find.” The Democratic governor said Trump’s economic plan would “increase costs, deepen the deficit, and kill jobs, yet Trump continues to double down on them.”
“Why? Because Trump doesn’t care about American workers or American jobs, he only cares about himself and his wealthiest donors,” Pritzker said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson called the former president’s plan “nothing more than a massive tax break for billionaires and big corporations while working people get stuck with higher prices for everyday goods because of his foolish tariff proposals.”
Harris’ campaign on Tuesday pointed to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists, who said that Trump’s policies will drive up costs, interest rates and the deficit.
“There is a clear consensus among economic experts — including many conservative-leaning ones — that Donald Trump’s plans will hurt the economy and the middle class,” the Harris campaign said.