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President Donald Trump clashed with reporters Thursday over questions about newly signed tariffs, saying he spent his first term “fighting madmen like you.” The intense exchange follows a White House signing ceremony for a series of enforcement actions aimed at expanding mutual tariffs and strengthening US trade policies.
While talking to reporters at the White House after signing, the reporters faced Trump about why he was highlighting tariffs in his second term.
“You’re weighing your decision to do that. It’s the authority to do that under the law of 1977. It’s never been called before,” the reporter said. “Why didn’t you invoke this law in your first semester? You could have taken billions into billions in your first semester, but did you wait until your second term?”
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President Donald Trump delved into reporters on tariff questions on Thursday, saying he must spend his first term “fighting madmen like you.” (Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Without missing the beat, the president said, “Yeah, because in my first semester, I was fighting a madman like you who was trying to do it inaccurately and inappropriately to a well-elected president.”
“And we had certain tariffs in the first semester,” he continued. “If you look at China, you’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars from China.”
He also said the Covid-19 pandemic also played a factor in his decision not to emphasize tariffs much in his first term.
“When Covid came, the last thing I was trying to do is tell France, Italy and Spain, and some other countries we’ll hit you with tariffs,” he explained. “When it came, we had to fight the situation in the community.”
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US President Donald Trump holds a “foreign trade barrier” document on April 2, 2025, making a statement on tariffs at the Rose Garden in the White House in Washington, D.C.
“But when I looked at my first semester, he continued.
A White House statement said Trump’s enforcement actions on Thursday reflected the president’s continued efforts to protect the United States from foreign threats to the US national security and economy by ensuring fair, balanced and mutual trade relations to benefit American workers, farmers and manufacturers and strengthen the US defense industry base.
This comes shortly after Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a US-EU trade agreement on Sunday.
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President Donald Trump (R) will shake hands with President Ursula von der Leyen (L), chairman of the European Commission, following a meeting in Turnbury, southwestern Scotland on July 27, 2025.
“We agree that the automobile and all other tariffs will be linear 15%,” Trump said.
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“So we have a 15% tariff. We have the opening of all European countries. I think it was essentially closed. That means you weren’t exactly receiving our orders. You weren’t taking our farm exactly.”
Von Der Leyen said that in addition to making $600 billion from other investments in the US, it will also purchase $150 billion worth of US energy as part of the deal.
Anders Hagstrom and Stephen Sorace of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
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