WASHINGTON, April 7. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump defended his tariff policy on Monday, painting a bright American picture as global markets tumbled.
"Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is no inflation, and the long time abused USA is bringing in Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on Tariffs that are already in place. This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its Tariffs by 34%, on top of its long term ridiculously high Tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate," Trump wrote on the Truth Social network.
Trump also noted that the previous US leadership was to blame for allowing other countries to "take advantage of the good OL’ USA!"
Meanwhile, global stock and commodity markets are experiencing one of the largest downturns in modern history, as many investors are comparing it to the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 and "Black Monday" in 1987.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of customs duties on products from 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on this list. Universal 10% tariffs came into force on April 5, while individual ones will go into effect on April 9. In addition, the US administration introduced customs duties of 25% on all imported cars from April 3.