Trump's tariffs are supposed to reduce China's trade surplus. It just hit a record high.

China's trade surplus with the United States hit a record monthly high in August despite the Trump administration's imposition of two rounds of new tariffs on Chinese goods and plans to levy additional taxes soon.

The surplus increased from $28.09 billion in July to $31.05 billion last month. "In the short term, it is difficult for the trade gap to narrow because American buyers cannot easily find alternatives to Chinese products," said economist Liu Xuezhi of China's Bank of Communications.

President Trump on Twitter Saturday indicated he will not call a trade truce any time soon. On Sunday, he doubled down, arguing that he is heavily taxing American consumers as a matter of fairness. As Chinese consumers suffer when buying our products, so we must suffer when buying theirs:

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In a previous post, the president rejoiced that Ford will no longer sell a small, affordable vehicle in the United States because his tariffs have made it too costly:

Trump proposed Ford build the car in the U.S., but the company has already said it does not make economic sense to do so. Read more about Trump's "unutterably stupid trade war" here at The Week.