Donald Trump put aides and advisors in yet another awkward situation on Sunday when, during breakfast with Boris Johnson, the president offered a somewhat confusing reply when asked by a reporter whether he had any “second thoughts” about raising tariffs on China Friday afternoon following Beijing’s retaliatory measures announced earlier in the day.
“Yeah, sure, why not?”, Trump said (or asked).
“Might as well”, he continued. “You might as well!”, he repeated, taking the decibel level up one notch for no readily apparent reason.
Read more: Trump Has ‘Second Thoughts’ About Latest Trade Escalations — Or Not
If you watch the clip (in the liked post), it’s pretty clear that Trump didn’t understand that reporters were trying to gauge whether or not he regretted the escalations. Until Sunday, nobody has ever answered any question starting with “Have you had any second thoughts” with “You might as well”.
Later, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told the media the president’s comment “has been greatly misinterpreted”. If anything, Grisham said, Trump meant he regretted not raising the tariffs even higher.
Fast forward another hour or so and Larry Kudlow showed up on CNN to weigh in (or “clarify”) further.
“Well look, if I can reinterpret that”, Larry began, asked about Trump’s response. “He didn’t exactly hear the question”.
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“Actually, what he was intending to say, was that he always has second thoughts, and he actually had second thoughts about possibly a higher tariff response to China”, Kudlow added.
It’s not clear what’s more disconcerting – the fact that the President of the United States doesn’t understand the meaning of the term “second thoughts” or that the White House wants to hike the tariff rate on various Chinese products even higher.
To be clear, though, the White House’s “reinterpretation” is entirely consistent with what you’d expect from Trump. The president’s tweets on Friday commanding US companies to exit China and his stated intention to have carriers search packages emanating from the country for illicit Fentanyl was indicative of an outsized response, so the 5% hike to the tariff rate on two tranches of goods seemed measured by comparison.
“He was thinking about a higher tariff response”, Kudlow stammered on Sunday. “Having said that, we’re staying with the policy that was announced on Friday as I believe”.
Translation: More escalations are likely coming. Brace yourselves.
