Trump defends tariffs in pre-midterms appearance in battleground Georgia

Donald Trump forcefully defended his tariffs on Thursday, claiming “tariffs are my favorite word in the dictionary” and promoting their use to empower American manufacturing at an event in north-west Georgia.“Without tariffs, this country would be in so much trouble right now,” Trump said during his remarks at Coosa Steel Corporation, a steel-processing and distribution firm in Georgia" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="33442" data-entity-type="location">Rome, Georgia.He lamented having to wait for the US supreme court’s decision on the constitutionality of his trade policy, attributing the lawsuit to “China-oriented” people and Canadian partisans.“I’m waiting for a decision from the supreme court,” he said, complaining about having to “justify this, because people come from other countries and have ripped us off for 50 years”.Trump’s visit to Georgia, a key battleground state in this year’s midterm elections, was ostensibly to promote his economy amid lagging approval numbers. But Trump spent a large portion of his remarks focused on his repeated, unverified claims of voter fraud.Trump unloaded on Democratic unwillingness to back the Save America Act, which would curtail voting by mail, require voters to present photo ID at the ballot box and require proof of citizenship when registering. The legislation passed in the House last week, but is unlikely to move in the Senate without lawmakers first ending the filibuster.“The Democrats don’t want to give us voter ID, because they want to cheat … They say they don’t want voter ID because it’s racist,” Trump said. “We want voter ID and proof of citizenship … they’re fighting that.”Trump also argued against mail-in ballots, saying mail-in voting should be reserved for deployed military service members, or people who are ill or away from home: “With mail-in ballots, they cheat.”Mail voting fraud is exceptionally rare, and Trump has provided no evidence of Democrats using the system to attempt to fraudulently win elections.And while addressing the court case emerging from an FBI raid seizing 2020 election material last month, Trump described the fight to return ballots to Fulton County control as nefarious.“Why don’t they want them to see the ballots after all these years? It’s because they cheated,” he said. “They cheated like dogs.”An affidavit unsealed after the raid revealed that the rationale for the investigation was based on debunked claims from conservative activists who have long denied the 2020 election’s results.Trump chose contested territory for his visit Thursday: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district. The former US representative’s resignation in January left a seat open with Republicans holding a razor-thin majority in the House. Early voting is under way in the 10 March election, which appears likely to result in an April runoff between the top two candidates.Trump’s visit reinforced his endorsement of Clay Fuller, a north Georgia district attorney and former White House fellow who serves as a reserve lieutenant colonel in the air force. The president’s endorsement has helped to whittle the field, which now stands at 18 candidates, including three Democrats. With less fracturing among Democrats, the retired army general and 2024 nominee Shawn Harris is likely to make a runoff against the top Republican vote-getter.Appearing at Thursday’s event, Fuller praised Trump’s approach to the economy and the “war on inflation that President Trump had to inherit form President Biden”. He joked with Trump, asking for a pardon for his child who got in trouble for skipping school to attend the rally.Trump also offered praise for the lieutenant governor Burt Jones, who is running for governor in a field recently joined by the billionaire founder of Jackson Healthcare, Rick Jackson. Jones “has been with you and been with me from the beginning,” Trump said.Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin released a statement as Trump spoke, noting that healthcare premiums will double on average for 1.4 million Georgians this year and 500,000 will lose their healthcare altogether “because of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill and refusal to extend ACA subsidies”.Democrats who are “captive” to the insurance companies are holding up a Republican initiative to redirect insurance subsidies into direct payments to beneficiaries, Trump claimed in his remarks, saying: “We’re slashing drug prices … we were paying the highest drug prices in the world, and now we’re paying whatever the lowest prices are in the world.”Trump also reiterated comments he made last month about a supposed deal with French prime minister Emmanuel Macron to raise drug prices in France, set after threats of tariffs on French exports. Macron has forcefully denied this claim, writing on social media platform X that: “It is being claimed that President @Emmanuel Macron increased the price of medicines. He does not set their prices. They are regulated by the social security system and have, in fact, remained stable. Anyone who has set foot in a French pharmacy knows this.”