Defiant Trump says trade war risks needed to ‘save the country’

US President Donald Trump acknowledged his trade war carried economic and political risks, but insisted they were necessary to “save the country.”

Noting fears of supply shortages and steep price rises resulting from his tariffs, Trump told his cabinet that “maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls” at Christmas and “maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more.”

He also admitted that his tariff program could cause Republicans to lose control of Congress.

Analysts voiced worry over the hit to the US economy: “Things might be pretty fine in aggregate,” Bloomberg’s Odd Lots newsletter warned, “but once you start delving into consumer stats you can find pockets of weakness pretty quickly.”