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Sarah Wasko / Media Matters

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Conservative economic commentators have been “sanewashing” Trump’s incoherent tariff proposals

After economists explained Trump’s tariff ideas would raise inflation and cost families thousands annually, Trump’s allies began claiming it has always been a bluff

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

Following the example of mainstream news organizations covering for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s incoherent policy proposals, conservative economic commentators have spent the past week “sanewashing” Trump’s calls to drastically raise tariffs — potentially up to 100% in some cases — to do everything from replacing income taxes and combating China to reviving American jobs, funding universal child care programs, and even financing a sovereign wealth fund.

All of this follows months of economists warning that Trump’s tariff proposals (which functionally amount to tax and price increases) would hike inflation and costs for American families by thousands of dollars a year.

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  • Trump has offered multiple delusional tariff proposals, including using them to replace income taxes and pay for child care

    • In August 2023, Trump called for a 10% universal tariff on all imports. [Tax Foundation, 8/25/23]
    • In January 2024, Trump proposed 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports. [Tax Foundation, 1/29/24]
    • In March, Trump called for a “100 percent tariff on every single car” from Chinese companies imported into the United States from Mexico. [Tax Policy Center, 3/28/24]
    • During a June meeting with Republican lawmakers, Trump reportedly floated a proposal to replace income taxes with tariffs. GOP attendees later confirmed that Trump had proposed using tariffs to cut or even replace income taxes. Tax and economic policy experts from across the political spectrum criticized Trump's proposal, which could severely disrupt international commerce and the domestic economy while supplanting the United States' existing system of progressive income taxation with regressive consumption taxes. [Media Matters, 6/17/24]
    • In August 2024, Trump increased his proposed 10% tariff to a 20% universal tariff. [USA Today, 8/15/24]
    • Days before the September presidential debate, Trump called for a 100% tariff on any country that is “leaving the dollar.” During a Wisconsin rally, Trump said: “Many countries are leaving the dollar. They not going to leave the dollar with me. I’ll say, you leave the dollar, you’re not doing business with the United States because we’re going to put 100% tariff on your goods.” [CNBC, 9/9/24]
    • Trump also variously claimed in recent weeks that his tariffs “will help pay for child care, combat inflation, [and] finance a U.S. sovereign wealth fund.” [The New York Times, 9/10/24]

  • Economists have said Trump’s tariff proposals are inflationary and would raise costs for middle-class families by thousands every year

    • Per reporting from The Washington Post, former chief economist for the Trump administration's Council of Economic Advisers Casey B. Mulligan “estimated in an interview that Trump’s 10 percent import tariff proposal would add an extra percentage point to inflation, or a quarter percent a year if spread out over four years.” [The Washington Post, 1/7/24]
    • Center for Economic and Policy Research senior economist Dean Baker: “Trump is promising massive tax increases in the form of tariffs, which will send inflation soaring if he carries through with them.” [Twitter/X, 3/2/24]
    • A Peterson Institute for International Economics study “calculated that Trump’s tariffs would raise prices for consumers on the goods they purchase by at least $500 billion a year, or about $1,700 annually for a middle-income family.” In an interview with The Atlantic, one of the study’s co-authors, UCLA Law School tax policy professor Kimberly Clausing said that “Trump is promising a no-holds-barred, all-out protectionist spree that will affect every single thing that people buy that is either an import or in competition with imports.” [The Atlantic, 6/2/24]
    • Bloomberg Economics: New tariffs pledged by Trump, including a 60% tariff on all imports from China, would nearly double the projected inflation rate in 2025. Bloomberg reported that “the Bloomberg Economics model shows the proposal sending the core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred gauge of prices, up to 3.7% by the end of next year, well above policymakers’ 2% target. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg, on average, expect 2.1% inflation in 2025.” [Bloomberg, 4/2/24]
    • The Center for American Progress estimated that Trump’s universal tariff increase to 20% would constitute “an up to $3,900 tax increase for a typical family.” [Center for American Progress, 8/15/24]

  • Multiple conservative economic commentators have “sanewashed” Trump’s extremist tariff proposals as merely a negotiating ploy

    • CNBC’s Rick Santelli: “You know how I feel about [Trump’s] tariffs? It’s a bargaining chip.” Santelli then defended the reality that Trump’s extreme tariffs would increase prices, shouting: “Prices are going up no matter what.” [CNBC, Squawk Box, 9/11/24]
    • Fox Business senior correspondent Charles Gasparino: “I'm actually shocked by the tariffs in the @realDonaldTrump economic plan--10% across the board, 60% on Chinese goods,” but “with Trump, its also likely to be a negotiating point.” [Twitter/X, 9/4/24]
    • Gasparino, just prior to a Trump speech at The Economic Club of New York: “I bet you he’ll say” his tariffs proposal “is a negotiating position.” [Fox Business, Cavuto: Coast to Coast, 9/5/24]
    • Gasparino: “Tariffs are, essentially, in Trumponomics, in MAGA economics, a sort of negotiating ploy to get better trade deals. So the tariffs could come off.” Gasparino also stated, “If you really listen to Trump, he’s not like, I’m just going to keep the tariffs on.” [Fox Business, The Claman Countdown, 9/6/24]
    • Former Trump Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on CNBC’s Squawk Box: “You have to remember, Donald Trump occasionally speaks in metaphors.” Ross elaborated on his claim that Trump is bluffing about his extremist tariff proposals: “When he talks about gigantic tariffs, which he did before the first administration as well, what he really means is, ‘I’m going to be very tough on the foreign companies. I’m going to be very tough on their subsidized exports.’ You shouldn’t take it all that literally because he likes to use slogans, as do all politicians, that convey a message. And talking about gigantic tariffs on everything sends a message.” [CNBC, Squawk Box, 9/10/24]
    • Fox business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Trump’s tariff policies: “He’s a consummate negotiator.” Kudlow continued: “I’m sitting there listening to this speech thinking to myself, he's negotiating right now. He's starting his negotiations right now. I don't know if he's going to win. I think he's going to win. I mean, I think his polls are the best polls he's ever had at this stage of the game. He's already negotiating. That's the way I read this.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 9/5/24]
    • Fox Business host Taylor Riggs: Trump says “smart tariffs don’t create inflation. Smart tariffs can be used to negotiate.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 9/5/24]