Schumer: US should be tough on China but smart about it

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that while the U.S. needs to be tough on China, it must approach the situation with intelligence and strategically.

His comments followed President Donald Trump’s latest threat to impose an additional 50% tariff on China if Beijing does not lift its 34% tariffs on American imports.

“As bad as it is, that would make it even worse,” Schumer told FOX Business shortly after a Monday meeting, where he said New York’s economy would suffer from Trump’s tariff plan, putting hundreds of thousands of export-related jobs at risk.

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“I do believe we have to be tough on China, but you got to be smart about it, and you should get the whole world to rally against China instead of attacking the whole world on tariffs,” Schumer told FOX Business.

FOX Business reached out to the Trump administration for comment. 

China announced last week that it would impose 34% levies on the U.S., just days after Trump unveiled the same amount against Beijing under his reciprocal tariff plan.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, threatened that the U.S. will impose an additional tariff as soon as Wednesday if China does not withdraw its 34% tariffs by Tuesday. The president also said “all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated.”

Trump touted his sweeping tariff plan at a “Make America Wealthy Again” event last week, saying that it will restore the American dream and bolster jobs for U.S. workers.

“Now it’s our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt,” he said. 

Several business leaders and lawmakers, including Schumer, have expressed concerns over the tariff plan. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who backed the Republican presidential candidate in July 2024, posted on Monday that the “formula used by the administration to calculate tariffs made other nations’ tariffs appear four times larger than they actually are,” adding that “the global economy is being taken down because of bad math.”

Schumer has expressed concern over the impact of tariffs on New York, specifically. He recently urged the House of Representatives to join the Senate in passing a resolution aimed at protecting the state from “disastrous price increases” and job losses caused by tariffs on Canada.

During the Monday meeting, Schumer said tariffs are “likely to drive New York right into a recession.”

While JPMorgan Chase suggested that the chance of a recession is 60%, Schumer said that the risk is even higher in New York, given the state’s dependence on exports and imports compared to other parts of the country.

New York exported $91.2 billion of goods worldwide in 2024, according to the International Trade Administration, and imported over $159 billion in goods last year.

New York exports in 2022 supported an estimated 263,000 jobs alone, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. 

In 2022, foreign investment in New York was also responsible for 6.8% of the state’s total private-industry employment, with major sources of foreign investment deriving from the United Kingdom, France and Canada.

All those jobs are “at indirect peril” due to the president’s plan, according to Schumer, who also said that “many, many more jobs” in the secondary market would follow, describing it as a “huge loss of jobs.” 

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The senator said New York’s industries, including finance, tech, tourism and fashion, “are targeted by foreign countries right now.”

Schumer said his office is also looking at “every legal avenue to stop these tariffs as well.” However, he warned that “it will take a while, and the damage is going to be very, very large, very, very soon.”