Fox News host Steve Hilton praised President Donald Trump and his latest strategy in the trade war with China, slamming the “snooty establishment” for getting it “all wrong.”

Trump is delivering “exactly the tough stance” he called for against China two decades ago when he was a private citizen, the host of “The Next Revolution With Steve Hilton” said on Sunday.

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

Hilton noted Trump’s use of “tariffs as his chosen weapon” during his monologue, reacting to the president’s hike of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports last week. China tried to renegotiate a deal at the last-minute, prompting the administration’s move to raise tariffs from 10 to 25 percent.

Trump has railed against his predecessors for their inept handling of trade with China, vowing he will be taking a stronger stance in order to defend America’s interests.

“China never had good intentions,” Hilton said. “Since the late ’80s its stated aim has been world domination – technologically and militarily – and their path to that was economic domination achieved by hacking and stealing the West’s technology and exploiting its own workers and the environment.”

Hilton argued that the “establishment idiots were too naive or too corrupted by Chinese cash to see it,” but noted that Trump was already calling it out decades ago.

In a series of tweets on Monday, Trump warned China’s President Xi that his country would be “hurt very badly” if they could not reach an agreement.

I say openly to President Xi & all of my many friends in China that China will be hurt very badly if you don’t make a deal because companies will be forced to leave China for other countries. Too expensive to buy in China. You had a great deal, almost completed, & you backed out! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

There was also a word of caution against China retaliating in any way.

“..There will be nobody left in China to do business with. Very bad for China, very good for USA! But China has taken so advantage of the U.S. for so many years, that they are way ahead (Our Presidents did not do the job). Therefore, China should not retaliate-will only get worse!” Trump tweeted.

China responded by announcing Monday that it would raise tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods.

But Hilton applauded Trump’s tough stance, explaining that it is tariffs which ultimately get the attention of the Chinese government, despite the “elitist idiocy” in cries from the left and the establishment that the president is plunging the U.S. into economic crisis.

The Fox News host argued that the battle is not just economic but is one of freedom versus authoritarianism, saying we are locked in “a battle to determine the value system that will dominate this century and perhaps the next one too.”

He called it “absolute rubbish” to say the U.S. is totally dependent on China, which he noted “declared war” on America years ago. Imports from China amount to only 2.7 percent in the U.S. economy, Hilton argued.

“Over 96 percent of our economy is not trade with China. We could totally disengage with China and we’d be absolutely fine,” he said, reminding viewers that a “total economic boycott of China” is something he has been calling for years.

Hilton pointed the former Vice President Joe Biden as an example of one who claims we have nothing to fear from China which is not in competition with the U.S. He noted how the 2020 Democratic contender has been “compromised” by China in the form of “billions of dollars in bribes” through payments made to his son’s businesses.

“With ‘Joe China’ in the White House, the policies of economic surrender and political appeasement would be back, Hilton added.

“President Trump is the first Western leader in 50 years to stand up to China,” he concluded. “It could turn out to be the most important policy shift of the 21st century.”