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Fox Business attacks media for not supporting Trump’s unpopular tariff policies

Multiple opinion, consumer, and manufacturer surveys point to widespread unpopularity and uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

As President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policies continue to take shape, multiple public opinion, consumer sentiment, and manufacturer and business surveys show that Americans generally disapprove of them. These surveys also show that Americans expect that the tariffs will raise prices and weaken the economy. With public support for Trump's economic interventions slipping, Fox Business has pivoted to attacking mainstream media coverage of Trump’s tariffs — even as experts warn that his policies will grievously harm the U.S. economy.

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  • Surveys show widespread disapproval and uncertainty over Trump’s handling of tariffs and trade

    • A Fox News poll found that a majority of voters oppose tariffs on Canada (61%) and Mexico (56%). Fox News’ write-up of its poll stated that tariffs “are viewed mostly through a negative lens, with voters thinking they are more likely to harm the U.S. economy (53% harm vs. 28% help) and make products more expensive (69% more vs. 7% less).” [Fox News, 3/20/25]
    • An Echelon Insights poll found that when Americans were told that tariffs increased prices, 55% opposed them. [Twitter/X, 3/19/25]
    • A Morning Consult poll found 48% of voters oppose Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, and the same plurality disapprove of his tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico. [Morning Consult, 3/19/25]
    • Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell said “both market- and survey-based measures” are showing that “some near-term measures of inflation expectations have recently moved up,” with respondents “mentioning tariffs as a driving factor.” In Powell’s March 19 remarks, he also repeatedly used the phrase “tariff inflation” when describing how the Fed will account for price disruptions resulting from Trump’s tariff policies. [U.S. Federal Reserve, 3/19/25]
    • Cato Institute: Trump’s tariffs are causing an increase in small business’ uncertainty. A Cato Institute article explained: “The administration’s basket case approach to tariffs and global trade is fueling economic uncertainty. According to the February survey from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), its uncertainty index rose to its second-highest recorded reading.” The article additionally displayed a chart from the FedEx Small Business Trade Index which “shows that American small businesses are highly dependent on imports.” [Cato Institute, 3/14/25]
    • Reuters: The March University of Michigan consumer survey showed that “U.S. consumer sentiment plunged to a nearly 2-1/2-year low in March and inflation expectations soared amid worries that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, which have ignited a trade war, would boost prices and undercut the economy.” Reuters reported that this result “mirrors similar concerns in some business surveys” and added: “The uncertainty created by Trump's on- and off-again tariffs as well as an escalation in trade tensions risks derailing the economic expansion.” [Reuters, 3/14/25]
    • A Quinnipiac poll showed that 56% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of trade with Mexico, and 58% disapprove of his handling of trade with Canada. Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said: “Icy exchanges on tariffs chill a longstanding friendship and voters make it clear they feel that's no way to treat our neighbors to the north.” [Quinnipiac University, 3/13/25]
    • A CNN poll showed that 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of tariffs. [CNN, 3/12/25]
    • The first quarter 2025 National Association of Manufacturers outlook survey “reveals growing concerns over trade uncertainties and increased raw material costs.” According to the survey, “Trade uncertainties surged to the top of manufacturers’ challenges, cited by 76.2% of respondents, jumping 20 percentage points from Q4 2024 and 40 percentage points from Q3 of last year. Increased raw material costs came in second, cited by 62.3% of respondents.” [National Association of Manufacturers, 3/6/25]
    • The February Institute for Supply Management survey showed that “worries about duties on imports dominated commentary from manufacturers.” Reuters’ report on the survey further explained that “a measure of prices at the factory gate jumped to nearly a three-year high and it took longer for materials to be delivered, suggesting that tariffs on imports could soon undercut production.” [Reuters, 3/3/25]
    • The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ February Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey showed multiple complaints from manufacturers about tariffs. One business replied that “tariff threats and uncertainty are extremely disruptive.” Another explained that it has “lost business opportunities for production of goods that goes to other countries as a result of tariffs.” Another business cited tariff changes to announce its likely closure. Many other businesses expressed concerns about Trump’s tariffs as well. [Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 2/24/25]
    • A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 59% of Americans opposed Trump’s tariffs on Canada and 56% opposed his tariffs on Mexico. [Ipsos, February 2025]

  • Fox Business repeatedly attacked media coverage of Trump’s tariffs

    • Fox Business host Charles Payne: “The media lost its collective mind and began peppering Powell with nonstop questions about tariffs.” Payne added that the media had waged a “horrific campaign of horror” against tariffs. [Fox Business, Making Money, 3/20/25]
    • Payne: “The media has gone to war with President Trump and made tariffs the scariest thing in the world.” Payne added that widespread concern over tariffs is “a media creation,” and declared that “we have never had this much negative news associated with the economy outside of COVID, the peak of COVID.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/18/25]
    • Fox Business host Dagen McDowell: “There’s this media minion fixation on tariffs to foment fear, because they’re panic-peddlers at heart.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 3/20/25]
    • McDowell: “All the media minion chicken scratchers can do is try and frighten the American people and report … the tariffs tantrums over and over and over again.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 3/18/25]
    • Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow: “This whole business about tariffs and the liberal media, ‘tariffs are inflationary, tariffs are recessionary,’ I think it’s all hogwash.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 3/20/25]
    • Kudlow: “The Wall Street and liberal media hysteria over inflationary tariffs is a lot of hoo-ha.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 3/19/25]
    • Kudlow: “The media is trying desperately to use tariffs to hammer Trump and say his policies are a failure.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 3/19/25]

  • Experts have warned that Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy

    • The Tax Foundation’s March 12 estimate of Trump’s various tariff policies found that they will “reduce US GDP by 0.4 percent and hours worked by 309,000 full-time equivalent jobs, before accounting for foreign retaliation.” These figures do not account for Trump’s separately announced so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, tariffs on the European Union, automobiles, agricultural products, or semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. [Tax Foundation, accessed 3/21/25]
    • Yale’s Budget Lab analysis of tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico found that Trump’s policies would raise prices by “1.0-1.2%, the equivalent of an average per household consumer loss of $1,600–2,000 in 2024$.” The analysis also found that “real GDP growth is 0.6 lower in 2025. In the long-run, the US economy is persistently 0.3-0.4% smaller, the equivalent of $80-110 billion annually in 2024$.” [The Budget Lab, 3/3/25]
    • Yale’s Budget Lab director of economics Ernie Tedeschi on Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs: Inflation will rise “1.7-2.1% depending on foreign retaliation and assuming the Fed doesn't react. That's the equivalent of an annual consumer loss averaging $2,700-$3,400 per household in 2024$.” The full study from The Budget Lab additionally explains that if American consumers substitute items for the higher prices, “the effect on prices settles somewhat, to 1.5-1.6%, still a $2,400-$2,600 average consumer loss per household.” [Twitter/X, 2/18/25; The Budget Lab, 2/18/25]
    • Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz: The higher inflation rate from Trump’s tariffs means “central banks will raise interest rates,” possibly “leading to the worst of possible outcomes – interest rates going up with stagflation, interest rates going up in the face of a weak economy.” [The Guardian, 1/31/25]
    • Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi: Trump’s tariffs “will result in higher prices for the things that we import. … It will add to inflationary pressures.” [CNN, 1/31/25]