A former Republican congressman tried to make sense of president Donald Trump tipping the U.S. economy toward recession.
The president announced double-digit tariffs on at least 90 nations Wednesday, sending stock markets into a tailspin and stoking fears of a recession, and former congressman Charlie Dent told MSNBC that he couldn't see any logic to Trump's decision.
"If the economy keeps tanking or the market keeps tumbling and tanking as it is, and if this economy does go into recession, which is looking more and more likely, unfortunately, maybe that will force the president to course correct," Dent said. "But what is so dispiriting about this whole situation is that it just seems the president has declared this this preemptive trade war against our partners and allies. What on what planet does anyone think that declaring a trade war with Canada and Mexico, our key North American partners, and with the European Union, which invests heavily into the United States, why do we think we won't be hurt by this? And then to accuse everybody in the world of being a bunch of rip-off artists or stealing from us?"
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"You know, when the farmer in Nebraska buys potash from Canada, they're doing it voluntarily an for a good reason," he added. "Then that farmer from Nebraska sells his corn to the Mexicans, who are buying it for good reason. Nobody's stealing from anybody here, and the president keeps saying this."
Trump called his tariff announcement "Liberation Day," but Dent said that didn't make any more sense than the rest of his plan.
"It's crazy," the Pennsylvania Republican said. "Why are we fighting with the South Koreans and the Japanese and the Australians? We need these people, they've been good partners, and we're just basically liberating ourselves from our allies, our partners and lower prices. So I just like, I just want to throw my hands in the air and say, 'This is so unnecessary and so, so self-destructive.'"
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