President Donald Trump joined Bloomberg News on Tuesday for a discussion at The Economic Club of Chicago, where the former POTUS dominantly laid out his economic plans while contrasting his policies with those of Kamala Harris, which he blasted as disastrous and terrible for the country.
Opening the discussion, Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait informed the audience the same invitation had been extended to Harris, who declined.
Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait: Just for the record, The Economic Club of Chicago and Bloomberg invited Vice President Harris to a similar interview. She has declined. pic.twitter.com/pREBYoHhFp
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
Trump went on to outline his plans to impose tariffs on American companies that try to produce products more cheaply abroad and then import them back into the US, at one point telling the moderator his thinking on tariffs has been wrong the whole time.
Q: Why should voters trust you?
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Because we're about growth. She's got no growth whatsoever… We're going to bring companies back to our county. Even today, as I was driving over, I see these empty, old beautiful steel mills…" pic.twitter.com/ueDMFWcs6m
TRUMP: "There are no tariffs."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
HOST: *confused*
TRUMP: "No, there are no tariffs — all you have to do is build your plant in the United States and you don't have any tariffs. That's what I want."
AUDIENCE: *applause*
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/vYWE8A0QNe
President Trump will stop American jobs from being shipped overseas.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
If companies choose to make their product in Mexico, they will not sell them into the United States without paying a tariff.
"We are not going to destroy our country." pic.twitter.com/7USegNeyGW
Interviewer: You're talking about 10-20% tariffs on the rest of the world. That is going to have a serious effect on the rest of the economy.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
President Trump: "I agree it's going to have a massive effect — positive effect… it must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking… pic.twitter.com/zyb1GfXCTi
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States and build a factory in the United States so it doesn't have to pay the tariff." pic.twitter.com/9Ed0NqL7CZ
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I would NOT let U.S. Steel be sold to the Japanese by the way… we were going to lose all our steel companies because China was dumping steel at levels that nobody's ever seen before. And I put a 50% tariff on that… they stopped dumping steel!" pic.twitter.com/RzWnyhArnv
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
President Trump tells the story of how he negotiated a new deal on trade with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. pic.twitter.com/vvXIsH90pV
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
Trump also delved into his foreign policy, suggesting China’s aggression towards Taiwan would likely cease if he returns to office.
PRESIDENT TRUMP on China's aggression toward Taiwan: "The reason they're doing it now is because they're not going to do it afterwards." 🔥 pic.twitter.com/B4FuQYsSjY
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
President Trump will STOP foreign countries from taking advantage of the United States on trade:
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
"Stupid people made these deals. I saw trade deals that were so stupid that you'd have to be an idiot to sign them. And we signed them for years." pic.twitter.com/YKlULRv2uL
At one point after Micklethwait cited the Wall Street Journal, Trump asked, “What does the Wall Street Journal know? They’ve been wrong about everything,” adding, “So have you, by the way… you’ve been wrong all your life on this stuff.”
The former POTUS also pushed back against Micklethwait when he suggested Trump’s policies would exacerbate inflation.
BLOOMBERG: Are those who claim your policies will drive up inflation wrong?
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I had four years of no inflation."
🫳🎤 pic.twitter.com/y3hWtsjODv
Trump also criticized the bankers at the run-for-profit Federal Reserve, describing how he allowed Chairman Jerome Powell to keep his job after threatening to fire him for keeping interest rates too high.
President Trump just COOKED the Federal Reserve:
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
"It's the greatest job in government. You show up to the office once a month and say, 'Hmm, let's flip a coin,' and everybody talks about you like you're a god." pic.twitter.com/S2xsrqbosO
The 45th president also corrected Micklethwait when he called California’s Governor “Newsom,” which Trump said is pronounced, “Newscum.”
TRUMP: "Gavin Newscum. He's the Governor of California."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
BLOOMBERG: "Newsom."
TRUMP: "Newscum, I call him."
BLOOMBERG: "There are CEOs out here if they said things like that about a rival CEO…"
TRUMP: "They don't have to go through what I have to go through." pic.twitter.com/UTuNzsXYNF
See more highlights and the full interview below:
"Many companies here have a shortage of labor."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We'll take care of that. We're going to get people in here rapidly, and they're going to be people that want to be in here. — and they're going to be people that can love our country." pic.twitter.com/uy6TwjxVnt
PRES. TRUMP: I want a lot of people to come into our country but I want them to come in legally.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
Bloomberg: You are talking about deporting 11 million people.
PRES. TRUMP: 425,000 people who are horrible criminals and 13,099 criminals were let in during Kamala's administration. pic.twitter.com/s8Tgd1fLOy
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "You had a peaceful transfer of power."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
Interviewer: "It was by far the worst transfer of power in a long time."
*Crowd boos* pic.twitter.com/C9wFi2qBpE
PRESIDENT TRUMP on the SpaceX launch: "I call Elon and I said, that's the most incredible thing." pic.twitter.com/UOW4U3ed7C
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I just haven't gotten over something the Justice Department did — where Virginia cleaned up its voter rolls and got rid of thousands and thousands of bad votes — and the Justice Department sued them." pic.twitter.com/0apAveSZb3
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 15, 2024
Standing ovation and huge applause for President Trump following his interview with Bloomberg at the Chicago Economic Club!
— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) October 15, 2024
The crowd absolutely LOVED it! pic.twitter.com/59NHAU6TdK
Perhaps Harris chose to skip the event because she would have to defend her communist “price control” schemes, which she has proposed as a method to combat grocery inflation but which have failed in previous iterations.
Event in full: