Donald Trump claimed that he hiked tariffs on Switzerland because he did not like how the country’s leader spoke to him.
The president sat down with his friend Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, who served during his first administration, for an interview, which aired on Tuesday, where he touted his sweeping tariff policy.
But his comment about how he decided to slap tariffs on the European nation has turned heads as the U.S. waits for the Supreme Court to make its major decision on his top economic policy.
Trump, 79, complained that Switzerland had been paying no tariffs and sending stuff to the U.S. “like nobody could believe.”
“So I put on a 30 percent tariff which is very low. Still we were having a big deficit, but it was half the deficit,” Trump claimed.
Trump recalled getting a call from the “prime minister of Switzerland” who he called “nice, but very aggressive.”
The president did not name the leader and appeared to confuse the country’s president with a prime minister. Karin Keller-Sutter served as the president of Switzerland through December of last year.
Trump, however, claimed he could not get her off the phone as she pushed back on the tariffs.
“So it was at 30 percent, and I didn’t really like the way she talked to us, and so instead of giving her a reduction, I raised it to 39 percent,” Trump bragged.
“And then I got inundated by people from Switzerland and I figured, you know what, we’ll do something that’s a little bit more palatable,” he explained, appearing to reference the dip to 15 percent at the end of last year.
It was not the first time the president has complained about Switzerland. He took aim at the country while visiting Davos last month where he rambled about the trade deficit during his address at the World Economic Forum.
At the time, he referred to her as the prime minister as well and described her as “a woman” who was “very repetitive,” but he did not say her name then either.
“She just rubbed me the wrong way, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said on the world stage.
During his interview on Tuesday, Trump went on to brag that he had stopped six of eight wars he repeatedly claims to have solved because of “tariffs.”
The Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on Trump’s tariff policy any day now with a ruling that would not just have a dramatic impact on the president’s top economic policy, but also on presidential powers.
The conservative justices appeared deeply skeptical of the Trump administration’s argument for tariffs when it heard the case last year.
“I just hope the Supreme Court does what’s right for the country,” Trump said on Fox Business. “Now, will I figure something out? The answer is yes. But it will be much – It won’t be as beautiful as it is right now.”
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