“Shark Tank” judge Kevin O’Leary doubled down on his recent comments touting higher tariffs on China, unloading on MSNBC host José Díaz-Balart after the latter pressed him on his support for President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on the communist nation.
O’Leary had advocated a 400% tariff on Chinese imports just one day earlier, saying that China did not play by the rules of fair trade and praising Trump’s efforts to bring the rogue nation to heel. His only concern, he said, was that Trump had not gone far enough — and he reiterated that sentiment on Thursday with Díaz-Balart.
WATCH:
🔥WOW: Kevin O’Leary ERUPTS at MSNBC host who tries (and FAILS) to PIN HIM for applauding President Trump’s pressure campaign against China!
“They cheat, they steal. They don’t play by the rules. And I’ve had enough!”
“I don’t care about the volatility. I don’t care if Trump… pic.twitter.com/eRZ4wjAetK
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 10, 2025
“They cheat, they steal. They don’t play by the rules. And I’ve had enough!” O’Leary explained. “And so I would like this thing worked out. I don’t care about the volatility. I don’t care if Trump ratchets it up 25% a day!”
“What do you mean you don’t care about volatility? If volatility has a direct impact on us as consumers?” Díaz-Balart objected.
“Because we have to fix this problem once and for all. It’s killing us! It’s killing small business in America. It’s killing large businesses!” O’Leary pushed back. “All the IP these guys steal. You go back and look at all their technological advancements — and this is a personal estimation — you’re going to find source code from American companies back four decades ago. These guys don’t play by the rules, and administration after administration, whether it be European or American, have not dealt with this. It’s enough, we’ve got to solve this problem. If we have to squeeze Chinese heads to the wall, as I said yesterday when I was testifying, so be it! I’m willing to live with the volatility to get the long situation settled.”
Díaz-Balart pressed O’Leary further on how to deal with China, noting that the Chinese government did not seem particularly concerned about the impact of a trade war on people they routinely oppress.
“You got Xi, he’s the Supreme Leader for life. What keeps him in power? Keeping people employed and fed. … When you shut down a factory, you put thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, unemployed in China! They take burning torches just like in the Frankenstein movie up to the castle. And that’s a bad outcome for the Supreme Leader! He knows that,” O’Leary said, arguing that China needed the United States market and that negative pressure on the Chinese government was the only way to bring China around, once and for all. “Let’s squeeze them, squeeze them, squeeze them. Just keep going and going and going until they start complying. That’s what I want!”
