Trump warns China of 50% tariffs if it is caught providing military aid to Iran
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President Trump has warned China that it could face “shocking” new tariffs if it is caught providing military aid to Iran, raising tensions as the US prepares to clamp down on the regime with a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
“Maybe they are.” [provided military aid to Iran] a little bit at first, but I don’t think they will, no,” Trump said in an exclusive Sunday Morning Futures interview.
“But if we catch them doing that, they get a 50% tax, which is an incredible amount.”
A member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., warned that China risks serious economic consequences if it gets too involved in the conflict, arguing that Beijing has a “interest in ignoring” Trump.
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Many critics of President Donald Trump have suggested that he is not carrying out what they initially insisted was a “genocide” of the Iranian people. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“I suspect that if they do, they won’t be like Obama and draw a line in the sand that they keep walking over. He’s going to force that, and it’s going to hurt,” he told The Big Weekend Show on Sunday.
Burchett also defended the administration’s pressure campaign, saying economic and military moves are needed to counter Iran’s adversaries and prevent further escalation in the region.
“He uses diplomacy very well. It may be at the end of his fist, but he does it, and by sending JD Vance, I think he showed the seriousness of this country,” he said, referring to efforts to establish a peace agreement with the kingdom over the weekend.
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Rep. Tim Burchett, of Tennessee, speaks to reporters following a House Republicans conference call at the US Capitol on July 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
He added, “These people [the Iranian regime] they are demons, and you have to realize that’s what they’re dealing with … the only thing they understand is total destruction, and they want Armageddon … Trump was right to come in and try to stop their nuclear capabilities, because that’s exactly what they want to do. As soon as they get the ability, they will throw an arrow against Israel. They will cause World War III. Trump is preventing that, and the price of gas is the cost we have to pay right now, unfortunately.”
The president and his broader administration made a foreign policy move over the weekend, when the vice president and other US negotiators met with Iranian and Pakistani envoys for ceasefire talks in Islamabad on Saturday.
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After those talks failed, Trump announced an “all-out” blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, set to go into effect on Monday.
“We’re not going to let Iran make money by selling oil to people they like and not people they don’t like… It’s going to be all or nothing and that’s it,” Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo.
“You saw what we did with Venezuela. It will be very similar to that but at a higher level.”
Fox News’ Greg Norman-Diamond, Michael Sinkewicz, Morgan Phillips, Preston Mizell, Robert McGreevy and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
