Donald Trump recently tried to create a phony dispute with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over China tariffs. Trump took to Twitter to accuse the Republican governor of wanting to raise taxes on goods imported from China despite no evidence to this effect. Trump tweeted, “Governor Ron DeSantis should have easily won Florida, yet his opponent — who wanted to dramatically raise taxes — keeps getting credit instead of him. He should change his policy on China Tariffs and the Economy if he wants to be successful in Florida.”
The tweet furthered sparked an uproar, as DeSantis has repeatedly stated that he does not believe imposing tariffs is beneficial for the US economy. DeSantis has advocated for free, fair, and reciprocal trade and has been vocal in his opposition to the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports. AfterTrump’s tweet, supporters of DeSantis pushed back, stating that he has strongly opposed tariffs, while noting that Trump’s own tariffs have caused greater economic instability and hardship.
In response to the tweet, DeSantis’ spokesman Dan Horton said, “Governor DeSantis has strongly opposed tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and laid out commonsense solutions to help mitigate the impact of the tariffs on Florida businesses during a press conference at Port Tampa Bay.” Since then, there has been no more public comment from Trump on the alleged tariff dispute.
