Under fire, Trump contends economic policies won’t boost federal debt

By James Oliphant

(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his protectionist trade policies and other fiscal proposals, dismissing suggestions that they could drive up the federal debt, antagonize allies and harm the U.S. economy.

“We’re all about growth. We’re going to bring companies back to our country,” the former president said in a sometimes-tense interview at the Economic Club of Chicago.

The interviewer, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, cited projections by budget analysts that Trump’s plans would add $7.5 trillion to the federal debt through the year 2035, more than twice that of policies favored by Trump’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump maintained that his trade policies – which call for pricey tariffs on goods not only from rivals such as China but allies such as the European Union – would revitalize American manufacturing and yield enough revenue to ease concerns about ballooning the deficit.

Some trade experts have argued those tariffs could damage the U.S. economy, jeopardize jobs and drive up consumer prices.

“All you have to do is build your plants in the United States, and you won’t have any tariffs,” Trump said. “I agree it’s going to have a massive effect, a positive effect, not a negative.”

Trump reiterated that he would levy a high tariff on vehicles assembled in and imported from Mexico — as high as 200%, he said. And he said he would impose duties on imported cars from countries such as Germany in order to force foreign companies to manufacture their products in the U.S.

When Trump was told that his efforts might annoy allies the U.S. needs to compete against China, he responded by saying, “Our allies have taken advantage of us more than our enemies.”