Sen. Ricketts to Newsmax: China 'One of Biggest Offenders' on Tariffs

China has remained one of the "biggest offenders" when it comes to tariffs against the United States, including with its announcement Friday that it will enforce retaliatory tariffs of 125% on U.S. goods in response to President Donald Trump's moves, Sen. Pete Ricketts told Newsmax on Friday.

"The president is trying to level the playing field with all the countries around the world," the Nebraska Republican told Newsmax's "National Report." "Typically, the rest of the world charges us four times the amount of tariffs we charge the rest of the world when they try to send stuff to us, and one of the biggest offenders is China."

He added that China's offenses don't only include high tariffs.

"It's the fentanyl," Ricketts said. "It's the cyberattacks. It's the stealing of intellectual property. It's the non-tariff trade barriers, and they are one of the worst offenders."

China announced Thursday that its countermeasures, raising tariffs from 84% to 125%, will start on Saturday. It has called Trump's actions "economic bullying."

The Trump tariffs on China total 145%, the White House confirmed Thursday. When Trump announced that China would face 125% tariffs, he did not factor in an earlier-released tariff of 20% tied to the country's role in fentanyl production.

"The only thing that China understands is brute force," Ricketts told Newsmax. "The president understands that after his first term. This is where the president is saying, 'hey, China, you're going to be held accountable. You're going to treat us fairly, or we're not going to be able to do business like we've done in the past.'"

Meanwhile, the tariff and trade situation should have been handled years ago, said the senator.

"We set up this system after World War II to help other nations recover," he said. "We got them on our side against the Soviet Union. It worked wonderfully well, except the Soviet Union fell 34 years ago. This should have been done 34 years ago. The president is now trying to make this a level playing field for Americans as we ship our products overseas."

Other countries, he added, have been getting a "sweetheart deal" for years, and "some of them may have to go through the five stages of grief like China clearly is not."

Ricketts also commented Friday on statements made during Trump's Cabinet meeting Thursday about continuing efforts to cut government spending, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent announcement about cutting his department's spending by about $5 billion.

"I think what Secretary Hegseth understands is that there are, even though we need to invest in defense, and, of course, the Senate and the House reconciliation bills both provide an additional $150 billion to the Defense Department," he said. "But just because you got a budget doesn't mean that the things you're spending on are the right things. We know that we've got room for improvement in every agency, including the Defense Department."

The dollars that are saved can be reinvested in programs that will make the United States safer, said Ricketts.

"I applaud the secretary and all the cabinet secretaries for looking at their organizations, finding the places where they're spending money," he said. "That is just not what's going to make us safer, stronger, more prosperous. And that's what's going on in the Defense Department. And the other Cabinet secretaries are doing the same thing."

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