Donald Trump’s most consequential trade policy didn’t originate in the Oval Office — it had been brewing for years.
A newly resurfaced 2011 video sheds light on the President’s trade approach with China.
Then a private citizen, Trump railed against President Obama’s trade policies, outlining a more extreme version of the economic offensive he would eventually unleash as a two-term president.
“It’s so easy,” he says, leaning into the mic. “I’d drop a 25 percent tax on China.”
A decade after the video, Trump snowballed the hypothetical into an aggressive 10 percent tariff.
A tariff is a tax on imported or exported goods, with companies paying the additional cost each time the goods enter the levying country. Those costs often get passed on to consumers.
The audience cheered along as he further explained the idea.
‘The messenger is important,’ he said. ‘I could say, “listen, you m***********s, we’re going to tax you 25 percent.”‘
Unearthed video of Donald Trump shows the then-private citizen testing out his tariff policies
During his time in the White House, Trump has consistently reupped his decade-old demand.
In January 2018, during his first term, Trump launched a 30 percent tariff on solar panels imported from China.
China launched retaliatory taxes on specific American imports worth about $3 billion.
Trump and China continued a tit-for-tat war of taxes throughout his first presidency. President Biden maintained many of the tariffs and added export controls on dozens of American-made tech products.
When Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he immediately launched into a new 10 percent tariff on all goods entering from China.
‘Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)’ Trump wrote after signing the executive order containing the tariff on his Truth Social media platform.
‘But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.’
Trump also brought new tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum into the American market.
Items shipped from China now encounter a 10 percent tariff in American ports
Donald Trump has advocated for the broad use of tariffs in the U.S. economy
His tariff kick isn’t over yet.
Trump is eying an all-encompassing tariff approach, levying 10-to 20 percent taxes on virtually all imports. The White House believes the taxes will bring in cash and help offset tax cuts planned by Republicans.
‘Very simple, they charge us, we charge them,’ Trump said Sunday. ‘Tariffs are going to help. Tariffs are going to make it very successful.’
But worries are starting to rise in the Republican party about the consumer impact of the new taxes.
‘I’ve heard figures of almost $1 trillion in revenue or replacing the income tax,’ Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said last week. ‘I’m just not seeing it.’
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board called Trump’s tariff plans the ‘dumbest trade war in history.’
Trump won reelection against the backdrop of rising prices. Inflation peaked at over 9 percent in the summer of 2022, and economic concerns dominated the 2024 election.
But, despite the worry that the executive orders could further increase consumer prices, Trump and his team continue to fight for the policy he’s laid out for over a decade.
