Trade wars

Paul warns Trump administration against escalating trade war with China

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Sunday that he has warned the Trump administration against leveling more tariffs against China, arguing that they will cancel out any benefits companies received from the administration’s recent tax cuts.

“I know of a big prominent company in Kentucky that said the tax cuts significantly helped them, but that the tariffs are almost equal in punishing them,” Paul said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “I've talked to the administration about this, I said the great benefits of the tax cut, which has low unemployment and incredible economic growth, could be erased by this tariff war.”

Paul added: “The president is playing a negotiating battle with the Chinese and I think he thinks at this point he can't back out…but I still have advised the administration: get this done, because the longer we're involved in a tariff battle or a trade war, the better chance there is we could actually enter into a recession because of it.”