'I’d make allies pay’: Trump’s 1988 Oprah interview resurfaces as he slaps new tariffs

Donald Trump in an old interview

A 1988 TV interview of US President Donald Trump with Oprah Winfrey is resurfacing online after his recent move to impose 'reciprocal tariffs' on global trade partners.

In the clip, Trump can be seen stating that he would make American allies "pay their fair share," echoing his current trade policies.

"They knock the hell out of our companies," Trump said in the 1988 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

"I'd make our allies, forgetting about our enemies, the enemies you can't talk to easily, I'd make our allies pay their fair share. We are a debtor nation. Something is going to happen over the next number of years with this country because you can't keep on going on losing two hundred billion and yet we let Japan come and in and dump everything right into our markets. It's not free trade," Trump said.

Donald Trump on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1988. He was right about everything. pic.twitter.com/Jm3I58ILzU
End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 22, 2024

He then added it was difficult to sell anything in Japan for a US manufacturer.

“If you ever go to Japan right now and try to sell something, forget about it, just forget about it. It’s almost impossible. They don’t have laws against it, they just make it impossible. They come over here, they sell their cars, their VCRs, they knock the hell out of our companies," he further added.

Trump called Kuwaitis "live like kings" while the US make it possible for them to sell their oil.

"Kuwait, they live like kings. The poorest person in Kuwait they live like kings, and yet they're not paying. We make it possible for them to sell their oil. Why aren't they paying us twenty-five percent of what they're making? It's a joke," Trump said in the interview.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs, imposing a 10% baseline tax on most imports, with higher levies for countries running trade surpluses with the U.S. India was hit with a 27% tariff, with Trump accusing ‘great friend’ PM Narendra Modi of unfair trade practices. Meanwhile, Canada and Mexico were spared, citing existing agreements.