Donald Trump may have warned the world about ‘Trump tariffs’ and as many years back as 1988. A recently resurfaced television interview from the year 1988 featuring then-businessman Donald Trump has gone viral online, providing insight into the motivations behind the US President’s latest tariff announcements. In the clip, originally aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Trump expressed frustration with American allies, arguing they should “pay their fair share” in trade dealings with the United States.
What Donald Trump told Oprah Winfrey that he is pained to see
The interview has gained renewed attention following President Trump’s unveiling of a sweeping new tariff regime, which imposes a 10% baseline tax on imports from most countries and significantly higher levies on nations running trade surpluses with the US. Canada and Mexico, however, have been exempted from additional tariffs due to existing trade agreements.
In the 1988 interview, Trump specifically called out Japan and Kuwait as examples of countries taking advantage of the United States. “They knock the hell out of our companies,” he told Winfrey, adding, “I’d make our allies, forgetting about our enemies… pay their fair share. We are a debtor nation.”
Donald Trump ‘trashes’ Japan on economic policy
Trump went on to criticize Japan’s trade practices, claiming, “If you ever go to Japan right now and try to sell something, forget about it… They come over here, they sell their cars, their VCRs, they knock the hell out of our companies.” He also took aim at Kuwait, stating, “Kuwait, they live like kings… and yet they’re not paying. We make it possible for them to sell their oil. Why aren’t they paying us twenty-five percent of what they’re making? It’s a joke.”
The resurfaced comments have sparked discussions online about the consistency of President Trump’s views on international trade over the past three decades. As the new tariff policy takes effect, the White House maintains that the measures are necessary to address trade imbalances and protect American businesses, echoing sentiments expressed by Trump in the 1988 interview.
