(The Center Square) – Less than one week after President Donald Trump shared the new reciprocal tariff rates the U.S. was adopting with dozens of countries – sending shock waves through global financial markets – the White House stood by the president’s economic vision at a press briefing Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt promoted the administration’s new tariffs, as well as the president’s goals for deregulation, American energy and sweeping tax cuts.
Leavitt maintained that the tariffs were working to America’s advantage and as the president had intended.
“Despite fear-mongering by the media, the world is clearly responding to President Trump’s approach,” Leavitt said, referencing Trump’s Monday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pledged to “immediately eliminate America’s trade deficit with Israel.”
Japan’s prime minister and the president of South Korea have also reached out to Trump to seek negotiations of tariff and trade practices with the U.S, as have as many as 70 other countries, Leavitt said.
“Countries are falling over themselves to reform their unfair trade practices and free open their markets to our country. Why? Because these countries greatly respect President Trump and the sheer power of the American market,” Leavitt continued.
The president contends that the imposition of high tariffs on other countries will lead to a resurgence in American manufacturing, as it will become cheaper to produce goods in the U.S. than it will be to import them. Central to his economic vision is lessening America reliance on foreign countries for a wide variety of goods and services.
“He is guided by a firm belief that America must be able to produce essential goods for our people and export them to the rest of the world,” Leavitt said. “By focusing on supercharging the onshoring of American manufacturing, the president is already delivering on his promise to usher in an economic golden age for our country.”
The administration is also working to cut bureaucratic red tape wherever it can and combat over-regulation of American industry to promote economic growth, and these efforts have already enabled Americans to keep more of their money, according to Leavitt.
“The largest deregulatory effort in American history is underway,” Leavitt said. “So far, President Trump’s deregulation effort has already saved Americans more than $180 billion.”
Leavitt also said Trump’s energy agenda, which aims to capitalize on American resources and expand American energy production, will lead to cheaper electricity, more American jobs, and a return to a more reasonable cost of living.
Finally, Leavitt spoke of how Congress is working to pass a Trump-endorsed budget bill that will facilitate “the largest tax cut in American history.”
