Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday defended President Trump’s trade war with China, saying Americans will reward him for saying “enough is enough” and standing up to the communist government.
“The president could not be more right on this,” she told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program.
She said the trade dispute amounts to a battle for global supremacy, in which one side will win.
“Do we want it to be the United States, or do we want it to be China?” Mrs. Sanders said.
As long as Mr. Trump is in charge, she said, it will remain the U.S.
China announced Thursday that it will resume trade talks with the U.S. and send a team of negotiators to Washington in October, raising the prospect of easing the tariff war that has roiled world markets.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said the country’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, agreed to the October visit in a phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Beijing also said that “serious” mid-level talks will begin in mid-September, cheering Wall Street investors who are sensitive to changes in the roller-coaster trade war.
Mrs. Sanders, who left the White House at the end of June, spoke to Fox News as new job numbers showed non-farm payrolls increased by 130,000, or short of Wall Street estimates of 150,000.
The former press aide said the economy is still strong, even if the August report fell short of expectations.
“I think at the end of the day there is no question the president and his administration have turned the country around and put it on the right track,” Mrs. Sanders said. “It’s still the strongest economy in the world.”
Failure to take on China, she said, would send the economy in the wrong direction, as the White House seeks to undo what it views as Beijing’s unfair trade practices and theft of intellectual property.
If the U.S. relents, she said, “we’re gonna lose our country and we’re gonna lose a lot more American jobs.”
• Dave Boyer contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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