Estimates Imply That Tariffs Could Fall Heavily on Consumers

What we're going to do is in the new tax bill that has to pass, it absolutely has to pass, we're going to provide tax benefits, tax credits to the people who buy American cars,

Navarro said

I couldn’t care less because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars

he told

And we saw almost immediately that the imports here of Volkswagen vans, the old hippie van, started going down and what happened was we had this -- this just renaissance of light truck development,

he said

The message is that tariffs are tax cuts, tariffs are jobs, tariffs are national security,

Navarro said on Fox News Sunday

We’re going to raise about $100 billion with the auto tariffs alone,

Navarro predicted Sunday

That money doesn’t come falling out of the sky. That money comes because (the price of) these products will go up, Americans will pay more. We’re talking a $700 billion tax,

he said, adding the

It insults the intelligence of the American people when he’s saying the government is going to collect $700 billion a year,

he said

Navarro is both the dumbest economist in America, and the most influential,

centrist economics blogger Noah Smith noted

Diane SwonkkPMG chief economist

The economics does not suggest that at all, and I'm not alone,

KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told ABC News about Navarro’s declaration

Arthur Laffereconomist

A 25 percent tariff would not only shrink, or possibly eliminate, profit margins for U.S. manufacturers but also weaken their ability to compete with international rivals,

Laffer, who Trump honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2019, wrote

Michael McCaulrussia

Tariffs are taxes. To claim that tariffs are tax cuts is nonsensical. Whose taxes are cut by tariffs? Journalists, please ask him to explain such claims,

former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul declared about Navarro’s Fox News appearance

They think you are stupid,

Pradeep J. Shanker, a contributor for the conservative National Review magazine, noted about Navarro’s claim

I understand Peter Navarro’s argument that tariffs now can help for tax cuts later, but this gets to my same criticism of Democrats who like to use tax credits to incentivize behavior,

he posted

Jason Smith (basketball, born 1986)house Ways and Means Chair

Congress can kickstart the second Trump economic boom with policies that will boost paychecks, cut taxes for wage earners, and bring investment to all corners of the country,

Smith said

We’ve got the biggest, most pro-worker tax cut in history that’s moving forward at a breakneck speed,

Hassett said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures

Kevin Hassettnational Economic Council Director

The odds of passing this in the summer are extraordinarily high,

Hassett said Sunday

Gerard Lyonsbritish economist

It is hard to quantify fully the impact, but in qualitative terms the markets believe tariffs will raise prices."

Gerard Lyons, chief economic strategist at Netwealth, previously told Newsweek

Tariffs are taxes—bad for businesses, worse for consumers equally in the U.S. and the European Union."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Wednesday

The reason why we're not going to see inflation, is because the foreigners are going to eat most of it."

Navarro responded to the poll data and said ... He added

Robert Reich|

The economy is showing severe warning signs after Trump's first month in office. This shouldn't be surprising. He doesn't understand the economy and tanked pretty much every business he ever touched."

Robert Reich, an economist and President Bill Clinton's Labor secretary, on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month