Washington Examiner columnist on Trump's tariffs: “It's hard to take them seriously like this was a thoughtful measure”
Tiana Lowe Doescher: “You have mixed messaging from the White House”
Published
Citation
From the April 3, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria
TIANA LOWE DOESCHER (WASHINGTON EXAMINER COLUMNIST): I mean obviously we all know consumption taxes of any kind are far superior to income tax, precisely because it does incentivize that saving. One of the issues, of course, with a tariff in particular is that the benefits over time decrease, and that's why you have mixed messaging from the White House. Where on one side you have Trump saying we want to focus on the pay-fors on TCJA, bringing down the deficit. But then you have folks like Peter Navarro saying we just want to on-shore manufacturing even though manufacturing output increased 51% since NAFTA was passed.
Look, one of the other big issues is we are not an autarky, right? Half of all imports into the U.S. go to manufacturers. 40% of all exports from Mexico are made in America. Because the supply chains cross up and down and east and west all over again, and so you have the architects of the tariffs that were unveiled yesterday, they unfortunately, my understanding is that they are not trying to bring tariffs down to zero, right? If they were, then Israel would have 0% tariffs because Israel just got rid of theirs in response and we know the threats were very effective. Look at the southern border, 7,000 crossings in March, lowest on record because of those tariff threats. But the what then, that's going to be the question that plagues it, because if you have Ecuador as a currency manipulator, when Ecuador has been using the U.S. dollar for the last quarter century, it's hard to take them seriously like this was a thoughtful measure.