What a difference a few months makes. For days, the traditional media has been breathlessly reporting about the impact of President Trump's proposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. This included dire warnings about trade wars and price hikes, or what some critics call fearmongering. Of course, the Mexico and Canada tariffs didn't even happen, since they were placed on hold after those countries reached last-minute agreements with Trump. Still, cautionary stories persist about the possible impact of the tariffs if they come back, and the new 10% tariff on China that took effect this week.
All of this coverage is far different than back in September, when President Joe Biden also increased tariffs on China (after Biden kept the tariffs from Trump's first term in place throughout his term.) That news was reported with a relative shrug by the same outlets that now warn about the consequences of Trump tariffs.
Regardless of how the media tries to shape it, many economists believe Trump is doing the right thing in combating China (something even Biden reluctantly accepted.) "Data today show that we consume double what we produce, China produces double what they consume," says Taylor Riggs, Fox Business analyst and host in a recent interview. "They are just an advanced manufacturer, we are just a consumer. We have to fix that."
"They (China) are not our friend, their sole goal in life is to take us down because they want to be number one," Riggs continues. "We are the number one economy, they are close at number two...they haven't gotten to (number one) yet, it could be another five to ten years, but they are close...they want to take us out."
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