U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed the import taxes paid by Americans have played a key role in ending “most” of the seven wars he says he has “solved” since returning to office.
During a press conference in the Oval Office on Wednesday—joined by FBI Director Kash Patel and other Department of Justice officials who praised the administration’s efforts to reduce violent crime over the summer—Trump defended his use of tariffs, according to The Independent.
The remarks came in response to a reporter’s question about whether Trump planned to intensify his ongoing trade dispute with China if his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Korea does not go as planned.
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Rather than address the question directly, Trump shifted to a defense of tariffs, insisting they serve as both an economic and national security tool.
“If we didn’t have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing. We would have no defense … if we don’t have tariffs, we’re not going to have national security,” he said.
Trump then offered an anecdote about negotiating with “Iran and Pakistan,” apparently meaning to refer to “India and Pakistan.” He claimed that the threat of heavy tariffs influenced both nations to deescalate conflict.
“I heard they were shooting at each other, and I said during one of my conversations, are you guys going to go to war? If you go to war, I’m going to put a 200 percent tariff. I’m going to stop you from doing any business in the United States,” Trump recounted. “Within 24 hours, the war ended. That would have been a nuclear war.”
The president went on to argue that the import taxes—currently under review by the Supreme Court due to questions about his use of emergency powers to impose them without congressional approval—are vital not only for generating Treasury revenue but also for maintaining global stability.
“They give me the power to keep peace,” Trump said. “The power to be used for good.”
Trump warned that losing the Supreme Court case could leave the country “a weakened, troubled financial mess for many years to come.” He concluded by crediting tariffs with helping to end several global conflicts.
“Of the eight wars, I was saying seven of the eight wars, I would say tariffs are directly responsible for me ending six of them, five or six. Without the tariffs, you have wars raging all over the world,” he said.