President Donald Trump was brutally mocked over the weekend after he referred to Japan's leader as "Mr. Japan."
The president made the statement during an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo about tariffs. As his July 9 deadline for tariff deals approached, Trump said he would rather send a letter to countries instead of negotiating.
"But I'd rather just send them a letter, a very fair letter, saying, congratulations, whether it will allow you to trade in the United States of America," Trump told Bartiromo. "You're going to pay a 25% tariff, or 20% or 40% or 50%. I would rather do that."
"We'll send a letter and we'll say we would consider it a great honor, and this is what you'll have to do to shop in the United States," he opined. "We're like a department store to shop in the United States, and you'll pay a 25% tariff, or we wish you a lot of luck, and that's the end of the trade deal."
"I could send one to Japan. Dear Mr. Japan, here's the story. You're going to pay a 25% tariff on your cars."
Trump's statement was met with mockery online.
"His brain is peanut butter," commenter Leslie Jones wrote.
"If President Biden started a sentence with 'Dear Mr. Japan,' Republicans would never shut up about it and '25th Amendment' is all they'd be talking about," another commenter said. "This is f—ing INSANE."
"Paging Jake Tapper," D. Villella joked.
"If Biden said that Maria would have leaped into the air to wave the DEMENTED flag on air," one person noted.
