Donald Trump appeared on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” where Bartiromo asked the convicted felon about his threats to put a 200% tariff on all car imports from Mexico. Bartiromo pointed out that “it’s only going to mean higher prices for consumers.”
“It’s not that. No, no, it doesn’t mean that,” Trump said.
“It’s got to be passed on somewhere,” Bartiromo pointed out.
Trump then all but admitted that his understanding of tariffs and his highly criticized tariff plans are basically an attempt to scare companies into manufacturing in the United States.
“All I’m doing is saying I’ll put 200 or 500, I don’t care, I’ll put a number where they can’t sell one car into the United” States, Trump explained.
When Bartiromo pressed Trump on his repeated use of a 200% tariff during speeches, Trump further admitted, “Oh I say, I’ll say 100, 200. I’ll say 500. I don’t care. They’re not going to bring cars into the country from Mexico and destroy what car companies we have left.”
Trump’s misunderstanding of how tariffs work has already been proven during his tenure in the White House. As the Progressive Policy Institute and others have shown, the tariffs Trump put on foreign metals, washing machines, and other goods from China hurt U.S. jobs and did not lead to an increase in domestic manufacturing.
The Wall Street Journal recently surveyed dozens of economists, most of whom say Trump’s economic policies, when compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ proposed plans, would result in higher interest rates and deficits for Americans.
Nearly 70% of respondents told the Wall Street Journal that inflation would be far worse under Trump’s plans, compared to only 12% saying Harris’ plans would be worse. Studies have estimated Trump’s tariffs costing American households thousands of dollars a year in increased costs on consumer items.
But it isn’t just inflation that is causing economists to criticize Trump’s ideas. According to the WSJ, 59% said unemployment would be worse under Trump’s policies, and only 16% believed he would be able to increase employment.
And for those conservative debt hawks: 65% of economists answered that Trump’s plans would increase the federal deficit far more than Harris. This falls in line with a recent study released by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which projected Trump’s policy ideas would increase the deficit by $7.5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years—more than twice what Harris’ proposed plans would cost.
These increases under a Trump economy would likely lead to higher interest rates, say 61% of economists asked. More economists also thought the economy would grow faster during a Harris administration than a Trump one.
As Philip Marey, senior U.S. strategist at Rabobank, told the WSJ, “If the tariffs work the way economists think they work, I think people are in for a very nasty surprise.”
