 "Donald Trump’s 1988 TV interview with American host Oprah Winfrey")
In a classic blast from the past story, US President Donald Trump’s 1988 TV interview with American host Oprah Winfrey is making rounds on the internet following his move to impose ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on America’s global trade partners.
In the interview, Trump can be seen saying he would make American allies “pay their fair share”.
In the clip, Trump cites examples of US trade with Japan and Kuwait, accusing them of hurting the interests of American companies.
“They knock the hell out of our companies,” Trump said in the interview.
“I’d make our allies, forgetting about our enemies, the enemies you can’t talk to easily, I’d make our allies pay their fair share. We are a debtor nation. Something is going to happen over the next number of years with this country because you can’t keep on going on losing two hundred billion and yet we let Japan come and in and dump everything right into our markets. It’s not free trade,” Trump said.
He then added it was difficult to sell anything in Japan for a US manufacturer.
“If you ever go to Japan right now and try to sell something, forget about it, just forget about it. It’s almost impossible. They don’t have laws against it, they just make it impossible. They come over here, they sell their cars, their VCRs, they knock the hell out of our companies," said Trump.
He also went after Kuwaitis, saying ‘they live like kings but won’t pay to the US’.
“Kuwait, they live like kings. The poorest person in Kuwait they live like kings, and yet they’re not paying. We make it possible for them to sell their oil. Why aren’t they paying us twenty-five percent of what they’re making? It’s a joke,” said Trump.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOn Wednesday (IST Thursday), Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on American trade partners, imposing a 10 per cent baseline tax on virtually all imports into the country. He also slapped a 27 per cent tariff on India and accused ‘great friend’ PM Narendra Modi of ‘not treating us right’.