White House adviser Peter Navarro has a wild theory about President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have roiled the markets and rankled the United States’s trading partners over the last month.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday, President Donald Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing said the president’s tariffs will amount to “the biggest tax cut in American history.”
“Tariffs are tax cuts. Tariffs are jobs. Tariffs are national security. Tariffs are great for America. Tariffs will make America great again,” Navarro intoned.
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A puzzled Bream asked Navarro to explain his reasoning.
“When you say a tax cut, how exactly is that going to work?” Bream, noting that tariffs typically lead to higher prices for consumers.
Navarro explained that tariffs will increase government revenue, which will ultimately trickle down to taxpayers.
“We’re gonna raise about $100 billion with the auto tariffs alone,” Navarro said. “In the new tax bill that has to pass—it absolutely has to pass—we’re gonna provide tax benefits, tax credits, to people who buy American cars.”
Navarro added that “other tariffs” would raise “about $600 billion a year and $10 trillion over 10 years.”
Navarro’s stunning assertion comes on the same day that Trump said he “couldn’t care less” if his tariffs lead car manufacturers to raise prices.
“I hope they raise their prices. Because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars,” Trump said in a phone call with NBC Sunday.
On Fox, Bream noted that 69 percent of Americans think tariffs will make products more expensive. Navarro had a curt reply.
“Trust in Trump,” he said.
