(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy swatted down a left-wing journalist’s claims that he sounded like a globalist during an interview Tuesday about GOP nominee Donald Trump’s plan to enact tariffs as part of his “America First” agenda.
Ramaswamy, who founded the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences prior to entering into politics, sparred with Ezra Klein—the former Vox editor and co-founder now writing for the New York Times.
After rolling out his economic-recovery plan for a second term in September, Trump has frequently said in interviews and rallies that his new favorite word is “tariff”—in particular, his plan to reinstate tariffs on Chinese goods to incentivize manufacturing in the U.S.
“It’s more beautiful than love … it’s the most beautiful word,” he said during an interview last week with influential podcaster Joe Rogan. “This country can become rich with the use—the proper use—of tarrifs.”
Trump praised a predecessor, former President William McKinley, for having ushered America into a time of prosperity in the late 19th century by taxing imported goods at a higher rate than those produced domestically, garnering him the nickname “the tariff king.”
Trump talks about how wealthy the nation was before the IRS and references president William McKinley's tariff strategies.
Between the Fed being created and the IRS, these alone have completely changed this nation. pic.twitter.com/v6QmbKcRNz
— Nevs (@Nevstv) October 26, 2024
Trump previously warned John Deere that, as president, he would hit the tractor company with a 200% tariff if it outsourced its manufacturing to Mexico.
The Republican nominee also announced that he would impose a blanket tariff on all imported goods, as well as a 60% tariff on Chinese imports to boost manufacturing in the U.S.
Ramaswamy, whose parents immigrated from India, appeared to take a broader view of the economic benefits the plan had to offer beyond America’s borders.
He told Klein that the “chief and vital objective” for the U.S. was to declare economic independence from China, adding that by expanding trade relationships with countries like South Korea, Japan and India, others could benefit from the resulting trade war.
“[I]f your top goal is to protect American manufacturers from effects of foreign price competition, then you actually want less trade with those countries,” Ramaswamy explained.
“But if that’s your objective, then you’re necessarily delaying the time period it takes to declare independence from China,” he added. “So there’s a choice.”
Klein claimed that Ramaswamy’s stance seemed more aligned with where the Biden administration stood on foreign trade policies than with Trump.
“I disagree with that,” Ramaswamy said.
“I’m sure you will,” Klein shot back, saying Ramaswamy was describing “friend-shoring.”
He argued that the former president intended to ban all imported goods from friends and foes of the U.S., not just China, in order to incentivize American production and to level off existing trade deficits.
“It sounds to me like you’re interested in this other idea that our trade with friends should go up in order to make trade with China go down,” Klein said. “That strikes me as actually more common cause right now with people on the Democratic side than people on the Republican ticket.”
Ramaswamy said he did not care about party label because both parties have “deep divides” when it came to matters of free trade and U.S. isolationism.
“Donald Trump is all about, with respect to the international stage, using our leverage to the maximum extent possible,” Ramaswamy said.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer previously published by the Daily Caller and The Federalist. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
