Scott Jennings Says ‘The American Dream’ Isn’t Buying ‘Cheapest Junk We Can’ From ‘Our Enemy’

Republican strategist Scott Jennings said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s administration is not defining the American Dream by the ability to purchase “the cheapest junk” possible from China.

Trump has faced criticism for repeatedly stating that children may end up with fewer dolls — and at higher prices — due to his tariffs on China. Jennings argued on “The Arena” that Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “message” is that the American Dream means making high-quality goods in the U.S. for a reasonable wage.

WATCH:

“What they’re saying is the American Dream is not solely based on our ability to get the cheapest junk we can from China,” Jennings said. “The American Dream is built on us not being reliant on our enemy, but having jobs here, having better jobs here, having a better pathway for your family to make a better living for yourself. That has nothing to do with being able to get cheap junk from China.”

“So I do think what their message is rooted in has to do with a long-term statement about what constitutes the American Dream, and don’t fall into the trap of believing that we have to be reliant on our enemy for you to have a dream of what?” he continued. “Owning a bunch of junk. The dream is we make stuff here, it’ll be high quality and the people who make it will make a fair wage. That’s the American Dream.”

Bessent conveyed this sentiment during a March 6 speech to the Economic Club of New York, CNBC reported. “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream. The American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security,” the Treasury secretary said at the time. “For too long, the designers of multilateral trade deals have lost sight of this.”

The U.S. currently levies a 145% tariff on Chinese goods. China’s manufacturing sector went from expansion to contraction as the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell below 50 in April, The Wall Street Journal reported.

New export orders from China plunged to their lowest level since December 2022 when the nation was still under a COVID-19 lockdown, according to figures reviewed by the WSJ.