Presidential Debate at CNN headquarters, Atlanta GA: on Free Trade

Donald Trump: FactCheck: Tariffs on China result in higher consumer prices

(TaxFoundation.org, "Who Really Pays the Tariffs?," Dec. 15, 2021): "When the Trump administration imposed tariffs on various imports in 2018, the stated purpose was to boost U.S. industries and punish foreign exporters. But rather than hurting foreign exporters, the economic evidence shows it is American firms and consumers hardest hit by the Trump tariffs. The tariffs resulted in higher prices for a wide variety of goods that U.S. consumers and businesses purchase." 

Donald Trump: 10% tariffs on China will reduce our deficit tremendously

TRUMP: It's not going to drive them higher. It's just going to cause countries that have been ripping us off for years, like China--and many others, in all fairness to China--it's going to just force them to pay us a lot of money, reduce our deficit tremendously, and give us a lot of power for other things.

BIDEN: But this tariff--these 10 percent tariffs, everything coming into the country, you know what the economists say? That's going to cost the average American $2,500 a year and more, because they're going to have to pay the difference in food and all the things that are very important. You have not, in fact, made any progress with China. We are [now, under the Biden administration, at] the lowest trade deficit with China since 2010.

[See FactCheck that economists agree that tariffs on China will increase consumer prices].

Joe Biden: FactCheck: Yes, kept Trump's 10% tariffs on China

(Politico.com 5/15/24) "Back in 2018, lawmakers of both parties greeted Trump's decision to slap tariffs on Chinese imports with widespread derision. Six years later, most members of Congress are applauding Biden's extension--and in some cases, expansion--of those tariffs. The contrasting reactions to similar policy moves is yet another reminder of just how much the political consensus has shifted against free trade. Biden's administration spent much of his term debating what to do with the duties Trump put on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, before finally announcing that he will increase Trump-era duties on steel, aluminum and clean energy products from China, including quadrupling tariffs on electric vehicles, while keeping the rest in place.

Joe Biden: 10% tariffs on China will cost consumers $2,500 per year

TRUMP: It's not going to drive them higher. It's just going to force them to pay us a lot of money, and reduce our deficit tremendously.

BIDEN: But these 10% tariffs [on] everything coming into the country, you know what the economists say? That's going to cost the average American $2,500 a year and more, because they're going to have to pay the difference in food and all the things that are very important.

TRUMP: This guy never took out my tariffs because we bring in so much money with the tariffs that I imposed on China. He never took them away. He can't because it's too much money. It's tremendous. And we saved our steel industries. And there was more to come, but he hasn't done that. But he hasn't cut the tariffs because he can't, because it's too much money.

[See FactCheck that indeed Biden has kept Trump's tariffs]