{"id":2568535,"date":"2026-02-10T20:36:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-bad-on-trade-reagan-folded-to-japan\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:39:15","slug":"trump-says-bad-on-trade-reagan-folded-to-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-bad-on-trade-reagan-folded-to-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says &#8216;bad on trade&#8217; Reagan &#8216;folded&#8217; to Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-says-bad-on-trade-reagan-folded-to-japan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2568535&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/greta-thunberg-arrested-after-caught-supporting-literal-anti-jewish-terrorist-org-this-is-the-kid-the-left-platformed-as-a-god-for-years\/\" title=\"Greta Thunberg Arrested After Caught Supporting Literal Anti-Jewish Terrorist Org - This Is the Kid the Left Platformed as a God for Years\">piece reports<\/a> that President Donald Trump criticized Ronald Reagan\u2019s trade record and defended his own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-may-place-tariffs-on-arab-states-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"... may place ...s on Arab states - Washington Examiner\">tariff approach<\/a> in a Fox Business interview, saying Reagan \u201cfolded\u201d to Japan in auto negotiations and was \u201cbad on trade.\u201d It notes that Reagan historically pursued voluntary export restraints with Japan, a policy many analysts blame for higher U.S. car prices. The article also covers Trump\u2019s tariff moves, recounting how he raised Switzerland\u2019s tariff from 30% to 39 after a tense call with the Swiss leader (likely karin Keller-Sutter) and later reduced it to 15% in a November deal with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It mentions a Canadian advertisement in October 2025 that highlighted Reagan\u2019s free-trade stance and prompted Trump to pause talks with Canada, and also criticism of Reagan\u2019s trade policies from Howard Lutnick. the piece places Trump\u2019s current tariff stance in contrast to Reagan\u2019s trade approach and related political commentary.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump says Reagan &lsquo;folded&rsquo; to Japan, brags about raising Swiss tariffs after &lsquo;aggressive&rsquo; call<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2500970\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> called former President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ronald-reagan\/\">Ronald Reagan<\/a> &ldquo;bad on trade&rdquo; in a Tuesday interview, pointing to a moment when he said Reagan &ldquo;folded&rdquo; to Japan in <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >auto industry negotiations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I liked Ronald Reagan, but Ronald Reagan was bad on trade,&rdquo; Trump told Larry Kudlow in a Fox Business interview. &ldquo;He had the big shootout with Japan, and he folded, and they came in and took our car market.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/infrastructure\/4453200\/leavitt-trump-wants-us-own-half-gordie-howe-bridge\/\">Leavitt says Trump wants US to own half of Gordie Howe Bridge<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4451159\/trump-stands-by-howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-blowback\/\">White House stands by Howard Lutnick as Epstein files fallout grows<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4453068\/white-house-confirms-trump-floated-renaming-penn-station-dulles-airport-after-himself\/\">White House confirms Trump &#8216;floated&#8217; renaming Penn Station and Dulles Airport after himself<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Reagan famously negotiated voluntary export restraints with <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/japan\/\">Japan<\/a> to put a quota on their automobile exports to the United States, which many trade analysts argue led to a spike in car prices for consumers. Trump, who favors <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tariffs\/\">tariffs<\/a>, told Kudlow that &ldquo;everybody has problems&rdquo; and Reagan &ldquo;was not good on trade.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a fan of his, and I thought he just sort of had a great presence. But on trade, if you look at every president we have over the last 50 years was bad on trade. Every single one. But I&rsquo;m not bad on trade. I&rsquo;m real good on trade,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>In October 2025, Trump and Reagan&rsquo;s opposing viewpoints on trade took center stage after a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/3863046\/ontario-doug-ford-ronald-reagan-video-led-trump-terminate-trade-talks\/\">Canadian advertisement<\/a> aired showing Reagan endorsing free trade, causing Trump to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3862768\/trump-halts-trade-talks-canada-anti-tariff-tv-ad-ronald-reagan\/\">pause his trade talks<\/a> with the U.S.&rsquo;s northern neighbor. Last May, Commerce Secretary&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/howard-lutnick\/\">Howard Lutnick<\/a>&nbsp;also <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/3426201\/howard-lutnick-ronald-reagan-not-strong-trade-guy-judge-trump-tariffs\/\">criticized<\/a> Reagan&rsquo;s trade policies.<\/p>\n<p>In his Tuesday evening interview, Trump also spoke about a conversation he had with the &ldquo;prime minister&rdquo; of Switzerland, likely referring to then-President Karin Keller-Sutter, during which she was &ldquo;very aggressive&rdquo; and kept saying they were a &ldquo;small country&rdquo; as she discussed the impact of tariffs on her nation. Trump said it was after that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mike-kelly-same-people-criticizing-trump-peddled-russia-collusion-hoax\/\" title=\"Mike Kelly: Same People Criticizing ... Peddled Russia Collusion Hoax\">phone call<\/a> that he raised their tariff percentage from 30% to 39%.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It was a 30% and I didn&rsquo;t really like the way she talked to us. So instead of giving her a reduction, I raised it to 39%,&rdquo; Trump said. &ldquo;Then, I got inundated by people from Switzerland, and I figured, you know what, we&rsquo;ll do something that&rsquo;s a little bit more palatable, at least now.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/4452611\/mike-johnson-trump-tariff-repeal-votes-gop-resistance\/\">JOHNSON EFFORT TO BLOCK TRUMP TARIFF REPEAL VOTES HITS GOP RESISTANCE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After raising the reciprocal tariff rate on Switzerland to 39% in August, Trump lowered it to 15% in November as part of a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefings-statements\/2025\/11\/joint-statement-on-a-framework-for-a-united-states-switzerland-liechtenstein-agreement-on-fair-balanced-and-reciprocal-trade\/\">joint deal<\/a> between the two countries and Liechtenstein.<\/p>\n<p>News of a bad phone call over trade negotiations that occurred between Trump and Keller-Sutter broke in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump: Reagan folded to Japan; bragged on Swiss tariffs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3976,"featured_media":2568536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25349779232651.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[4551,4461,5894,7221,70028],"class_list":["post-2568535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-foreign-policy","tag-japan","tag-politics","tag-trade","tag-us-politics-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25349779232651.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2568535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2568535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2568535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2568539,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2568535\/revisions\/2568539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2568536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2568535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2568535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2568535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}