US doesn’t have a ‘tariff problem’, it has ‘a Fed problem’: Trump

President Donald Trump yesterday denied his trade wars were harming the US economy, instead blaming the Federal Reserve for allowing a strong dollar to make American exports less competitive. The remarks came just two days before Washington is due to impose a wave of a new tariffs on billions in Chinese imports after this month’s sharp deterioration in trade relations with Beijing.

“We don’t have a Tariff problem.... we have a Fed problem,” Trump said on Twitter. He said as the euro falls against the dollar, it is “giving them a big export and manufacturing advantage,” while his aggressive tariffs are taking care of “bad and/or unfair players.” Fears that Trump’s trade wars are damaging the world’s largest economy and pushing the world toward recession have rippled through global markets this month -- with investors soothed this week by the more positive tone struck by Chinese and US officials.

But Trump has frequently lashed out at Chinese and European authorities, accusing them of deliberately weakening their currencies to gain unfair trade advantages -- charges they have denied. And he has repeatedly criticized Fed chair Jerome Powell.