Präsident Donald Trump verteidigte am Dienstag vor den Zwischenwahlen im November die Zölle seiner Regierung und sagte in einem Interview mit "Fox & Friends", die Abgaben brächten "ein Vermögen" in die Vereinigten Staaten.

Trump äußerte sich, während seine Regierung sich darauf vorbereitet, ab Freitag neue Zölle von 10% und 12.5% auf Importe aus 60 Handelspartnern zu verhängen, wenn ein vorübergehender weltweiter Zoll ausläuft.

"Are you worried that the tariffs that you put forward over the last couple of days will hurt the economy as they adjust in bringing manufacturing home?" fragte Moderator Brian Kilmeade.

"No, because it's bringing hundreds of billions of dollars," sagte Trump. "I was at General Motors yesterday. They have the best year. They have the most trucks, the most cars. The tariffs have saved General Motors. What I've done to the auto business, what I've done to the chip business. We have chip companies now making, building hundreds of billions of dollars worth of chip plants in Arizona."

"We are going to end up with 40 to 50% of the chip business from nothing in a year and a half from now," fügte der Präsident hinzu.

Trump sagte außerdem: "It's a shame that I have to go a harder way for the tariffs because the Supreme Court, in a very close decision, you know, ruled against me."

Der Supreme Court hatte im Februar Trumps "reciprocal" Zölle von 10% to 50% aufgehoben, die im vergangenen Jahr eingeführt worden waren. Als Reaktion darauf führte Trump unter Section 122 des Trade Act von 1974 einen vorübergehenden weltweiten Zoll von 10% ein, der am Freitag um 12:01 a.m. ET ausläuft.

Das Office of the U.S. Trade Representative teilte am Donnerstag mit, dass die neuen Zölle, die unter Section 301 des Trade Act von 1974 verhängt werden, unmittelbar nach dem Auslaufen der vorübergehenden Abgaben in Kraft treten.

Canada, Mexico, India and the United Kingdom gehören zu den Handelspartnern, auf die ein Zoll von 10% erhoben wird. Taiwan and the European Union sollen hingegen mit einem Zoll von 12.5% belegt werden.

"Now I have other ways of doing the same thing. But it's a more cumbersome process, you know, the way of doing it. But the tariffs have made this country a fortune," sagte Trump. "It made the country rich. And I stopped eight wars, I would say five of them because of tariffs. The threat of tariffs stopped India and Pakistan from going into a nuclear war. The threat of tariffs stopped numerous other countries from going to war. These tariffs — it's the greatest thing. And only the really smart people or the people that are nonpolitical and that get it, talk about it. The Democrats know how good it's been."

"We have the hottest car business. We're right now building more car plants than at any time in our history. Toyota just left Mexico. They're building, they just announced, they're building a $12 billion worth of plants in the United States," sagte Trump. "All because they want to avoid tariffs. They have no tariffs if they build their product here."

Die Trump-Regierung hat entschieden, das U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) nicht zu verlängern, und wird stattdessen eigenständige Handelsabkommen mit Kanada und Mexiko anstreben.

When asked Tuesday whether he was looking to update the USMCA, Trump said: "I don't care. I mean I don't really want to, I'd rather have, I'd rather be independent. Here's the thing. Mexico and Canada need us. We don't need them. The deal is important for them. It's not important for us."

FOX Business’ Michael Sinkewicz, Eric Revell, Edward Lawrence and Sophia Compton contributed to this report.