President Donald Trump exploded in a fiery social media rant Thursday morning, defending his tariffs with rhetoric that framed them as weapons in a war—quoting WW II-era President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) to defend his controversial taxes.
Trump’s attack on what he called the “Globalist Wall Street Journal” followed criticism from the Murdoch-owned newspaper’s editor, who argued that Trump’s “haphazard” tariffs were unsettling business leaders and fostering instability.
Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning (video below) that less than two months ago, just as Trump was ushering in his second term, the mood of business executives was “upbeat.” She explained that “the talk was all of deregulation, growth, you know, no tax rises — boom, boom America — and Europe was absolutely stuck in the doldrums, very unhappy. But it’s very interesting how that mood has shifted pretty much since all the tariffs started coming in.”
The President went ballistic.
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“The Globalist Wall Street Journal has no idea what they are doing or saying,” he declared. “They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing the United States of America. Their (WSJ!) thinking is antiquated and weak, and very bad for the USA. But have no fear, we will WIN on everything!!! Egg prices are down, oil is down, interest rates are down, and TARIFF RELATED MONEY IS POURING INTO THE UNITED STATES.”
He ended that post by misquoting FDR’s famous remarks, stating: “The only thing you have to fear, is fear itself!”
Minutes later, Trump continued his rant.
“The U.S. doesn’t have Free Trade. We have ‘Stupid Trade.’ The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!”
For years, Trump boasted and bragged about the trade deal he took credit for negotiating, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, or “USMCA,” which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Earlier Thursday morning, Trump had exploded over tariffs the European Union had announced, tariffs that were in response to those Trump had imposed.
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“The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States,” Trump alleged, “has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
(Many were quick to point out that there is no “Champagne business” in the U.S., as champagne legally only comes from France.)
“Tit-for-tat threats gather pace in transatlantic trade feud,” Bloomberg News reported, adding: “Trump is ‘escalating the trade war he chose to unleash,’ Laurent Saint-Martin, France’s trade minister, wrote in a post on X. ‘We will not give in to threats and will always protect our industries.’”
Bloomberg added that Trump’s “sweeping tariff agenda” was being enacted “in a piecemeal fashion, a strategy that has been punctuated by uncertainty, including delays, reversals and changes in direction.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
