Graham defends trade war: ‘God bless Donald Trump’ for standing up to China; ‘I don’t see another way’

By Jon Dougherty

(NationalSentinel) As 2020 Democrats continue their criticism of President Donald Trump’s G7 meeting and the establishment media continue producing hard-luck stories about Midwest farmers complaining about the president’s tariffs on China, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said during a Fox Business interview on Tuesday there is no other way to address the massive trade imbalance with Beijing as well as the country’s predatory economic practices.

“Well, I think the President knows that if you surrender to China’s cheating, it would devastate our economy and the world economy over time,” Graham told host Neil Cavuto.

“So the price to standing up to China, I think, is a lot less than just giving into China. The tariffs are a tool. Nobody likes this policy, but I don’t see how you make China change their behavior until there is a consequence to what they are doing. That’s why we have the tariffs,” he added.

Graham added that while he doesn’t like tariffs as a trade policy, generally, because over time they serve as a tax that gets passed onto consumers, he believes it’s the right approach at the right time to get China on a level trade playing field.

“I do like the idea that President Trump, unlike any other president, is actually doing something about China’s cheating,” he told Cavuto, adding that while he liked President George W. Bush and tried to work with President Barack Obama, they never designated Beijing a currency manipulator as Trump has.

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“These tariffs are designed to get China to buy more of our products,” he said. “The $500 billion trade deficit means that China’s selling us $500 billion more than they buy from us, and the tariffs are trying to level that playing field, but mainly to change their business practices which are way out of line with international norms.”

Graham also addressed the impact the tariffs and trade war were having on American farmers.

“Well, let me tell you, to our farmers here in South Carolina, either you’re going to fight China or you’re not. And I hate it for the fact that the farm community suffers the most,” Graham continued.

“No matter who you get in a trade dispute with, the first thing that goes is they start hitting farm products. Everybody wants to buy farm products made in America. They do a lot of business in China. But how do you get China to change their currency manipulation, their intellectual property theft, state-owned enterprises competing with the private sector?” he added.

“How do you do that unless you push back? So to the farmers, it’s either pay now or pay later when it comes to China,” the South Carolina Republican said. “They’re going to destroy the American economy and there will be nobody here really able to buy your product.”

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