Reporter that reassured wall street, but just hours later, President Trump turned up the heat yet again, announcing 100 billion in additional tariffs against china. Enter today, the Treasury Secretary there is the potential of a trade war. And let me just be clear, it is not a trade war. The president wants reciprocal trade. Reporter so, what now . Well, just last month, the president himself said the United States had been treated so badly for so long on trade that, quote, trade wars are good and easy to win. Does the president think that trade wars are easy to win . Is that still his view . I think the president feels like if he is in charge of those negotiations, absolutely. And jon karl joins us from the white house tonight, and jon, the president s top economic adviser calls the tariffs just a proposed idea, but youre not hearing that kind of language from the president himself. Reporter well, tom, it is true that tariffs have not gone into effect yet. The process could take a cou
sure seems dug in on this, and so do the chinese. as a chinese government spokesman said today, we are not afraid to fight a trade war. tom? jon karl starting us off tonight. jon, thank you. next to the white house, divided over the fate of epa chief, scott pruitt as a cloud of scandal is growing around him. the latest after he denied knowing anything about big staff raises and tonight, sources in the epa dispute that. but only one person can ask him to go, the president. and tonight, he is standing by pruitt. abc s mary bruce is at the epa tonight. reporter: mired in controversy, epa administrator scott pruitt sat down with president trump today in the oval office. but the white house refuses to say what comes next. no one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire members of his cabinet. it s a decision that he ll make. reporter: tonight, new questions about why two of pruitt s top aides got hefty raises, even after the white house refused to sign off. in a