Businessman and investor Kevin O'Leary said he wants to go DEFCON 1 on China and implement 400 percent tariffs in the wake of Donald Trump's trade announcements.
O'Leary made the comments during a CNN panel discussing the President-elect's revelation that he intends to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese products entering the U.S. and a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico.
"I would like to go to DEFCON 1 with China, tariffs 400 percent, I brought it up," O'Leary said on a Newsnight episode on Tuesday. He used the shortened U.S. military term for "Defense Readiness Condition 1," which is the most severe alert level.
"Bring the supreme leader to Washington or crush his economy until he has riots in the street," he said.
When asked if 35 percent is "enough for China," O'Leary said: "No it's not enough—what you have to do is target parts of their economy with a lot of workers."
He added: "Just for an example, let's say yoga mats—let's say we import a million yoga mats a month. All the yoga mat factories, 400 percent tariffs on yoga mats, they all get unemployed, they go to the streets, they scream at the supreme leader, 'I'm starving', riots. That's when he wakes up and says 'Wow'."
Newsweek has contacted O'Leary via online contact form for comment.
O’Leary: I would like to go to defcon one with China— tariffs 400%. Bring the supreme leader to Washington or crush his economy until he has riots in the streets pic.twitter.com/UcXiwqvccV
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 27, 2024O'Leary is a Canadian businessman known for founding SoftKey Software Products and working as an investor and venture capitalist on the TV show Shark Tank.
A different panelist responded: "I think we all agree on some of the problems here, be it fentanyl—bad, China—providing fentanyl and stealing IP and all that stuff—bad. The issue is we keep on going back to the same set of solutions that do not work, which is ever-higher tariffs, which again primarily are borne by American consumers and not China."
Multiple economists have echoed these same concerns, with Michael Ryan, a finance expert and founder of michaelryanmoney.com, previously telling Newsweek: "These tariffs would certainly mean higher prices for the American consumer.
"Retailers/importers will pass these increased costs onto shoppers, driving up the price of everyday items like toasters and washing machines."
China has already issued a warning to Trump, following his tariff announcement, saying that "no one will win a trade war."
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. No one will win a trade war or a tariff war.
"The counternarcotics authorities of China and the U.S. have resumed regular communication since the San Francisco Summit. The Chinese side has notified the U.S. side of the progress made in U.S.-related law enforcement operations against narcotics. China has responded to a U.S. request for verifying clues on certain cases and taken action."
He added: "All these prove that the idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality."
Pengyu was responding to the President-elect's statement on Monday, warning that "massive amounts of drugs" are still pouring into the U.S. despite numerous talks.
"I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular fentanyl, being sent into the United States—but to no avail," Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before.
"Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America."
English (US) ·