US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China boiled over Friday, as both countries moved to impose new tariffs, causing shares of major US companies to plunge.
US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell extolled a “humming” American economy and voiced the importance of a “united front” on China when he spoke during a Fox News interview during “Cavuto Live” on Saturday.
When host David Asman asked the envoy whether Washington could effectively challenge China, referencing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire to see Donald Trump scale back attacks on the Asian giant, and suggested the G7 might not face a united front on the issue, Grenell responded:
“Look, let me be very clear, if we want a united front then Europe needs to dial up. We don’t need to dial back”.
“The fact of the matter is our economy is the one that’s humming and I hear every single day that German CEOs are racing into the U.S. because of the pro-growth strategies”.
When it comes to the world economy, Grenell claimed during his appearance on Fox News that “China doesn’t play by the rules”. He added he believed since more palliative measures had not worked, President Trump’s tariffs and hardline tweets were the appropriate response to Beijing’s actions.
As he praised the American economy, the ambassador continued:
“Look, the German economy is struggling. People are looking at the largest economy in Europe and they’re trying to figure out what to do. And what we’re saying is, when we go to the G7 and we’re trying to talk about growth, follow us. Do what we did”.
Grenell also told the weekend news programme that if the European economy wanted to grow there “needs to be a plan with a deregulation aspect”, calling on Europe to follow the example of the US economy.
Grenell added Europe needs “fiscal expansion” and “tax cuts”.
In a ringing endorsement of the envoy’s statements, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted:
“Once again my friend @RichardGrenell hits the nail on the head”.
Richard Grenell later took to Twitter to again call on Europe to sign up to Washington’s firm stance on China:
“We need a united front on China right now. Dial it up, Europe”, he tweeted.