'Makes no sense': GOP senator begs Trump on Fox not to fall for 'fake accounting'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) escalated his opposition to Trump's trade war with an impassioned plea to the president on Fox Business on Tuesday with former presidential adviser Larry Kudlow.

Paul, who recently drew Trump's public wrath by crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats on a resolution to block tariffs on Canada and has repeatedly spoken out about why he believes restrictionist trade policies are a bad idea, laid out his case as starkly as he could.

"You're opposed to what Mr. Trump is doing," said Kudlow, who himself has been critical of Trump's 10-49 percent global tariff plan. "Tell us why. Tell us what you're thinking."

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"Well, you know, I'm kind of old-fashioned Larry. I don't like taxes, and I don't want more of them," said Paul. "I also think that if you tax something, you're going to get less of it. And I don't want less trade, I want more trade."

"There's a fundamental argument we have to have in this country: is trade good or bad?" Paul continued. "The president and his counselor seem to think that in trade, someone gets ripped off. The truth of the matter is this: that all trade is mutually beneficial, and really, the U.S. doesn't trade with China, you trade with Walmart. When I go to Walmart, if I pay $10 for a shirt, I want that shirt, and they want my 10 bucks, and we both go away from the deal having succeeded. We mutually benefitted. That's the only reason trade happens. And then if you add it all up and say, 'Oh, China's ripping us off,' it makes no sense."

"Trade deficits are not real accounting, it's a fake accounting and it doesn't mean anything," he added. "What means something is, if you look at trade deficits in proportion to prosperity, the higher the trade deficits, the more prosperity. The lower the trade deficits, the less prosperity. We get a reduction in trade deficits when we go into a recession, we get an expansion of trade deficits when we're in a boom. So really, nothing about a trade deficit gives any real useful instruction to the economy."

Watch the video below or at the link here.