Former President Donald Trump had a heated exchange with Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at an economic forum in Chicago on Tuesday, sparking an eruption of laughter from the crowd as he defended his stance on tariffs.

Trump, the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election, argued that his proposed tariffs on foreign manufacturers would have a “massive positive effect” on the U.S. economy, rather than the negative consequences Micklethwait warned about.

During the back-and-forth, Micklethwait pressed Trump on his insistence that tariffs — which could range between 10 and 20 percent on goods from other countries — would not severely harm the global economy. He suggested that imposing such tariffs could have widespread ramifications, impacting not only trade relations but also the domestic economy.

Trump quickly retorted, “It’s going to have a massive effect — a positive effect.” The former president went on to criticize Micklethwait’s long-standing views on tariffs, joking, “It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong.” His remarks prompted loud laughter and applause from the audience.

WATCH:

Micklethwait attempted to counter, saying, “If you don’t do this, this country has no chance. 40 million jobs rely on trade.” Trump, however, continued to push back, citing John Deere, a major American manufacturing company, as an example of his tariff policy’s success. Trump said that John Deere had initially planned to build new plants in Mexico, but after his administration intervened, those plans were scrapped. “I kept the jobs here.”

Trump would go on to reiterate his promises to protect the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency and emphasized the importance of maintaining strong relationships with global powers like Russia and China.

On the campaign trail, Trump has reiterated his intention to implement sweeping tariffs, proposing a universal tariff of either 10% or 20% on all imports into the United States. Additionally, he’s advocated for a significant tariff of more than 60% on all goods imported from China.

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REACTIONS:

I. Love. Him.

— This Wasn't Happening Under Trump (@k_ovfefe2) October 15, 2024

Trumps hilarious 😂 making him presence known

— Yoda Trades (@MarketMovers10) October 15, 2024

The John Deere anecdote needs to be repeated over and over and over again! It’s so good!!!

— Conservazoomer (@Conservazoomer) October 15, 2024

I would love to see Kamala in that same seat. That would be pay per view material. She doesn’t have ability to respond to any of those questions

— Dave D (@davedou11) October 15, 2024

That's a friendly audience, I expected the audience to be like the one from NABJ, Chicago is waking up !

— Nova Jenson 🇺🇲 (@Novajmorea) October 15, 2024