China circulates Reagan video as having new relevance for President Trump

China has posted an almost 40-year-old clip of former US President Ronald Reagan criticising tariffs to send a message to President Donald Trump.

China has posted an almost 40-year-old clip of former US President Ronald Reagan criticising tariffs to send a message to President Donald Trump.

The 1987 video of President Reagan delivering a radio address to the nation went viral online after President Trump rocked the world with global tariffs that wiped trillions of dollars off stockmarkets.

It was then picked up by the Chinese Embassy in the US which captioned a clip of President Reagan’s video with the words “Ronald Reagan vs. #tariffs: 1987 speech finds new relevance in 2025.”

In the video President Reagan, also a Republican like President Trump, said that imposing tariffs “looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs” and added that “sometimes for a short while it works”.

But he said it led to homegrown industries relying on government protection, stopping competing and stopping innovating. Then “something even worse occurs” and retaliation by foreign countries triggers “fierce trade wars.

Former US President Ronald Reagan prepares for his State of the Union address January 21, 1988 in the Oval Office. Picture: Mile Sargent/AFP

“The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidise inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.”

President Reagan lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s and said that high tariff legislation passed back in that period “greatly deepened the depression and prevented economic recovery”.

US President Donald Trump stands next to a painting of former US President Ronald Reagan. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

The video had also been circulated among bankers and business executives on Wall Street including the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon who, the New York Post said, had circulated the video internally with employees.

However President Reagan’s son Michael, who has previously been a Trump sceptic, said his adopted father’s position on tariffs had changed over time and he should not be used to criticise President Trump.

“Yes, my father spoke about tariffs when he was POTUS … that was 40yrs ago, it is different time with a different POTUS,” he said on social media. “Give Trump time and get out of the way.”

Originally published as China circulates Reagan video as having new relevance for President Trump