Citation From the August 27 edition of BlazeTV's America with Eric Bolling
ERIC BOLLING (HOST): So the president clearly has -- the businessman, and as you know, I was on board with the president, with Donald Trump the businessman becoming President Trump because I liked the way he did business and I thought it was time for an American politician, a president, to act that way. Is he being influenced by Steve Mnuchin or Larry Kudlow, though, cause it seems to -- he seems to have gone back and forth on whether he wants to impose that 25, additional 5% to 30% on some of the Chinese goods. And then he backed off on those. Where is he? Is this all President Trump or is it Mnuchin and Kudlow?
VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Well the one thing I can assure you about is it's always all President Trump. I mean--
BOLLING: That doesn't surprise me.
PENCE: Look, you know this president, Eric. And he has a leadership style that says let me get everybody around the table, representing the broadest range of views that he wants to hear from. OK? And then he makes a decision on the best way forward. But with regard to China, we just -- look, the United States let China into the World Trade Organization about 20 years ago. And the expectation was that China would begin to respect international rules of commerce and trade, and the unspoken hope is that we would also see China move toward a greater embrace of liberty. Religious liberty, political liberty, free speech, private property. And frankly, on the latter, it's gone in the opposite direction. We see freedom contracting in China. And we now are the better part of two decades into seeing China take advantage of the American people and the American economy. And the president's just made it very clear in the midst of a good relationship with President Xi that those days are over. So--
BOLLING: Is he willing to go further? [crosstalk]
PENCE: That's what he's all about.
BOLLING: He's said he's willing to continue increasing at 5% going forward infinitum. You know, is he really willing to do that?
PENCE: I think the president is more than willing to continue to stand strong until China comes to the table and is willing to make a deal on the terms that the president has outlined. Which isn't -- it's not just about the trade imbalance, the $500 billion into trade deficit that we have with China. It's also about protecting intellectual property. Protecting, essentially, the private property rights of American businesses. It's those structural changes. We've got to see China come to the table and we've got to see China open their markets so that the American people and American businesses like here in South Carolina have the ability to export our goods and our services into China to the same extent that they can bring them here.
BOLLING: No question. And I've known the president for the better part of 20 years. I agree with almost everything he does economically. I just hate these tariffs. As you know I'm a free trader, I'm a libertarian free trader, I would love to see another way. But you know what? China's on their heels right now. They're worried about their growth slowing and President Trump, if he knows one thing he knows when he has an advantage. Right now the U.S. economy has an advantage over China.