Former White House adviser Steven Bannon said China is waging an economic war against the United States and credited President Trump for standing strong against Beijing’s attempts to backpedal on trade talks.
“This radical cadre, led by President Xi [Jingping] … is in a flat-out economic war” with the United States,” Bannon told John Catsimatidis on his AM 970 show “The Cats Roundtable” in an interview that aired Sunday.
”Donald Trump is the first president, Republican or Democrat – because the Republicans are just as bad here – to stand up to the Chinese and say ‘I’m not going to be re-traded. I’ve got these tariffs on your goods right now,'” Bannon continued, adding that Trump “stood tall.”
The US and China ended trade negotiations in Washington on Friday without an agreement after Trump announced he would raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.
The president said he was increasing the tariffs because China had been backtracking on agreements they made in the talks.
While praising Trump, Bannon slammed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who’s been personally involved in the negotiations with China.
“I wouldn’t depend too much on Mnuchin’s comments because Mnuchin‘s comments is one of the reasons why we had this blow up when he said we’re in the final laps. We weren’t in the final laps,” Bannon said. “I think both sides are very very very far apart.”
Mnuchin made the “final laps” comment last month as a US delegation headed to Beijing in anticipation of a deal being struck.
But that was before Mnuchin and Robert Lighthizer told the president that Chinese officials during the talks began retreated from earlier commitments, leading Trump to send out a tweet last Sunday announcing the tariff hikes.