Defending his policy and reiterating his love for tariffs, US president Donald Trump on Tuesday said America is “becoming rich as hell”.
"I love tariffs. Most beautiful word... Tariff is my favourite word... We’ve taken in trillions of dollars, and when this is finished, there will never be wealth like what we have," he said.
"Other countries took advantage of us for years. Now we’re treating them fairly. The money coming in is something we’ve never seen. The other day they found thirty-one billion dollars- enough to buy a lot of battleships," he said.
This not the first time that Trump is calling tariff his favourite word. Hours after his inauguration in January, Trump said, "I always say 'tariffs' is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary. Because tariffs are going to make us rich as hell. It's going to bring our country's businesses back that left us."
Even during his 2024 presidential campaign, he made a statement on similar lines. "To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is 'tariff.' It’s my favourite word. It needs a public relations firm," Trump said during an appearance at the Economic Club of Chicago on October 15, 2024.
Trump also exuded confidence that the US Supreme Court would not rule against his tariff policy. This comes after a lower court observed that only the US Congress can impose tariffs, following which Trump moved the Supreme Court.
Trump recently announced 100 per cent duties on pharmaceutical drugs from October 1. He also proposed a 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made films.