Watch: ‘Trump Is A Nationalist’ – Alex Borg Praises US President But Criticises Alcohol Tariff Threat
PN MP Alex Borg said that while certain decisions taken by Donald Trump might not make sense to the outside world, many US citizens view them as the actions of a “nationalist who loves the United States”.
“Certain tariffs on Canada and China may seem crazy from the outside, but Trump wants to resurrect the US manufacturing industry,” Borg told Lovin Malta’s Tim Diacono.
“If Chinese companies face higher tariffs, they might reconsider whether or not to go to the US. We might see it one way, but the Americans view some of these decisions as pro-American, as the acts of a nationalist who truly loves the US.”
Borg, one of the few Maltese MPs who openly endorsed Trump prior to his re-election also praised the US President for entering into a ceasefire deal with Ukraine and restarting intelligence sharing with the country.
However, he criticised him for threatening the EU with 200% tariffs on imported alcohol unless it scraps its new 50% US whiskey tariffs, which it imposed as retaliation to Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
“Not only does it not make sense to create tension between the US and Europe, but ultimately Americans will suffer,” Borg warned.
“Spain exports a lot of alcohol, especially wine, to the US, which means that American consumers will suffer if the US imposes 200% tariffs on these products. It could be that he is rushing to make statements without considering their implications.”