President Donald Trump said Sunday night the tariffs he has imposed worldwide will spark investment in the U.S.
According to a report in The Hill, Trump said the tariffs were the reason he was elected.
“This was one of the biggest reasons I got elected, was exactly because of this,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
“We’re going to put tariffs — we already put them on. It’s not a question if we will. We will put them on,” he added. “And those tariffs next year will make us $1 trillion.”
Markets fell in the days following the start of the tariffs, which were imposed on most countries that exports goods to the U.S.
While many are concerned this could cause higher prices in the U.S., the Trump administration insists it will bring back jobs.
Trump said “thousands of companies” will relocate to the U.S., citing North Carolina, Michigan and Indiana as examples.
“In North Carolina, already furniture people are starting to move back in,” Trump said. “In Detroit and Michigan, which I won because of what I said, what I’m telling you, car companies are starting to open up. In Indiana, a big one is under construction as an example, Honda.”
“They are moving in like nobody has ever seen before,” he said.
Trump added it’s “unsustainable” for China to have “surpluses of a trillion dollars.”
“We will be taking in over a trillion dollars over the next short period of time with the tariffs that I’ve already instituted and they’re already in place,” Trump said.
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The president also addressed the uncertainty in the stock market by stating he “can’t tell you” what will happen.
“But I can tell you how our country has gotten a lot stronger,” Trump said. “And eventually, it’ll be a country like no other. It’ll be the most dominant country economically in the world, which is what it should be.”
