Martedì il presidente Donald Trump ha difeso i dazi della sua amministrazione in vista delle elezioni di midterm di novembre, dicendo in un’intervista a "Fox & Friends" che le tariffe stanno portando negli Stati Uniti "una fortuna".

Trump ha fatto queste osservazioni mentre la sua amministrazione si prepara a imporre nuovi dazi del 10% e del 12,5% sulle importazioni provenienti da 60 partner commerciali a partire da venerdì, quando scadrà una tariffa globale temporanea.

"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?" ha chiesto il conduttore Brian Kilmeade.

"No, because it's bringing hundreds of billions of dollars," ha risposto 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," ha aggiunto il presidente.

Trump ha anche detto: "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."

A febbraio la Corte Suprema aveva annullato i dazi "reciproci" di Trump, dal 10% al 50%, imposti lo scorso anno. In risposta, Trump ha introdotto un dazio globale temporaneo del 10% ai sensi della Sezione 122 del Trade Act del 1974, che scade venerdì alle 12:01 a.m. ET.

L'U.S. Trade Representative Office ha annunciato giovedì che i nuovi dazi, imposti ai sensi della Sezione 301 del Trade Act del 1974, entreranno in vigore immediatamente dopo la scadenza delle misure temporanee.

Canada, Messico, India e Regno Unito sono tra i partner commerciali che dovranno affrontare un dazio del 10%. Taiwan e l'Unione Europea, nel frattempo, dovrebbero affrontare un dazio del 12,5%.

"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," ha detto 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," ha detto Trump. "All because they want to avoid tariffs. They have no tariffs if they build their product here."

L'amministrazione Trump ha deciso di non prorogare l'Accordo Stati Uniti-Messico-Canada (USMCA) e intende invece perseguire accordi commerciali separati con Canada e Messico.

Quando martedì gli è stato chiesto se intendesse aggiornare l'USMCA, Trump ha detto: "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 hanno contribuito a questo articolo.