MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace slammed White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, accusing her of being “either tragically uninformed or lying” after Leavitt claimed that tariffs quantity to a tax reduce for People.
Wallace’s feedback got here in response to a heated alternate at a White Home press briefing by which Leavitt clashed with Related Press journalist Josh Boak over the financial influence of tariffs.
The confrontation highlighted rising tensions over President Trump’s commerce insurance policies, which have roiled monetary markets and triggered backlash from financial consultants.
Throughout the press convention, Boak questioned Leavitt on whether or not Trump’s tariffs constituted a tax hike on American shoppers.
Leavitt firmly rejected that notion, responding: “He’s actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off.”
“Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate for tax cuts,” Leavitt mentioned.
Boak pushed again, urgent Leavitt on whether or not she had ever personally paid a tariff.
“They don’t get charged on foreign companies; they get charged on importers,” he countered.
Leavitt fired again, saying: “I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decision that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press.”
Later that night on MSNBC, Wallace aired the alternate earlier than providing her personal scathing critique of Leavitt’s remarks.
“I mean, she’s awash in regret and remorse and offense, but she’s either tragically uninformed or lying,” Wallace mentioned.
“There is no economist that’s been tapped to sit in Donald Trump’s cabinet who would testify under oath to what she just said, ‘Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people.’ Simply the opposite is reality.”
Wallace’s visitor, The Atlantic’s Annie Lowry, agreed, saying tariffs perform as a tax on home shoppers fairly than overseas producers.
“So, tariffs are taxes paid by American consumers. They raise prices for American businesses and American households,” Lowry mentioned.
The Submit has sought remark from the White Home.
Tariffs, a longstanding coverage device utilized by governments to boost income and shield home industries, have change into a central pillar of Trump’s financial technique since his return to workplace on Jan. 20.
His administration has aggressively expanded tariffs, igniting contemporary commerce disputes with key allies.
Most lately, a commerce battle has erupted between the US and the European Union after the bloc introduced retaliatory measures in response to new American tariffs.
On April 1, the EU is ready to impose duties on numerous US industrial and agricultural items, a response to Trump’s choice to extend tariffs on all metal and aluminum imports from the EU to 25%.
The escalation has rattled monetary markets.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Common plunged 478 factors, whereas the S&P 500 fell 10 % beneath its February document excessive.
The volatility intensified after Trump urged that he would possibly impose further tariffs on Canada in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s risk to tax electrical energy exports to the northern United States.
Regardless of the inventory market turmoil, Trump dismissed considerations whereas chatting with reporters on the South Garden.
“Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but we need to rebuild our country. Our country has been stripped of its jobs and its factories,” he mentioned.
The president additionally took a swipe on the earlier administration, calling President Joe Biden’s financial insurance policies a “fake economy.”
He argued that tariffs would drive funding again into American companies, injecting trillions of {dollars} into the home economic system.
“I’m very optimistic about the country. We’re going to have the greatest markets we’ve ever had,” the president mentioned.
Trump acknowledged the potential for short-term financial ache however insisted it was crucial to revive American manufacturing dominance.
“I think our country had to do this. We had to do this,” he mentioned. “Other countries have taken away our businesses, taken away our jobs.”
