What happens to the American or European people is irrelevant to him.

I think he also genuinely believes that trade deficits in goods mean the other country is ripping us off. That has no economic basis, of course; he just genuinely believes that.

So if we're running a trade deficit with Lesotho, because they have diamonds and we're rich and want to buy their diamonds, and they're poor and can't afford to buy anything from us, somehow that means Lesotho is cheating us. Even though we're getting to purchase diamonds that we want to buy, presumably at a price we want to buy them at - and we gain nothing if we stop buying diamonds from them.

It doesn't make any economic sense, of course. But Trump really seems to believe that Trade Deficit Bad. So I think he actually thinks that this will be good for the American people.