U.S. denies waging trade war with neighbors

U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the Trump administration was using tariffs to launch "a drug war, not a trade war," with Canada and Mexico.

"What happened was that we launched a drug war not a trade war and it was part of a negotiation to get Canada and Mexico to shipping fentanyl across our borders. As we've watched them make progress on the drug war, then we've relaxed some of the tariffs that we put on them, because they're making progress," Kevin Hassett said.

Over the course of seven days, the U.S. President imposed tariffs, delayed some, and then suggested the possibility of more, causing major whiplash and confusion that rattled financial markets, nearly wiping out all stock market gains made since Trump's election. The Trump administration says additional reciprocal tariffs could be as high as 250% on Canadian dairy and lumber.

The adviser also made the case that Trump was trying to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S., saying "what the president's tried to do is make it so that when we produce something, we produce it at home."

"President Trump wants to bring the jobs home, bring the wealth – the wealth home, and bring the wages home," Hassett said.