‘He suckered China in’: Geraldo Rivera praises Trump for ‘brilliant’ tariff moves

Geraldo Rivera praised President Donald Trump on NewsNation Wednesday as he said Trump “ambushed” and “suckered” China with his unpredictable tariff strategies.

Trump announced a 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs for all countries except China, which faces a 125% increase, leading to a surge in international markets following his Wednesday announcement on Truth Social. During an appearance on “NewsNation Now,” Rivera praised Trump’s tariff tactics as “brilliant” maneuvering that strategically misled China and the global economic powers.

“I believe that he ambushed China. I believe that he suckered the whole world into believing that he was going to go down in this harry carry, this suicide mission against the world,” Rivera said. “I think with him it’s so much spontaneous, but I believe it evolved. I mean, Monday, so many people were feeling terrible pain. The markets were tanking. It was no end in sight. People were watching their 401Ks, their IRAs disappear.”

Rivera said Monday was a day of widespread anxiety, with the stock market in a free fall and no end in sight to the financial pain.

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“The whole nation was, I think, trembling over the uncertainty of where we were going with this. He was picking a fight with the entire world. So I said Monday, Isn’t the problem with China? Why are we getting everybody, U.K., European Union, Japan? China’s the problem.’ I couldn’t understand it,” Rivera said.

Rivera said his confusion cleared after a breakfast meeting at the Regency Hotel with close friends and financial insiders.

“We all are talking. ‘Oh my God, this is awful, but we’re doing the right thing. You have to have courage. You have to stick it out.’ I went to my Twitter followers,” Rivera said. “I said, please don’t sell. This is on Sunday and Monday. Please don’t sell unless you absolutely have to. And then, you know, look what he does. Surprise. You know, this is why Trump is triumphant. This is why you can’t beat this guy.”

Despite saying that Trump’s approach was bold, Rivera defended it as a necessary evil in dealing with China.

“China’s been cleaning our clock for a long time, making a lot of money on the U.S. trade in a lot of different ways. Dumping product, not taking ours at all,” Rivera said. “I think that what he did was brilliant. And a lot of people are heaving a huge sigh of relief. People were staring at the abyss. No one knew how far this was going to go, whether we really were off the cliff forever. And I just feel sorry for all the people who chickened out and sold out.”