White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spars with reporter over whether tariffs are ‘taxes’

White House press secretary spars with AP over whether tariffs are 'taxes'Source: Reuters

Transcript

00:00He expects Congress to pass them later this year.

00:02I'm sorry, have you ever paid a tariff?

00:04Because I have.

00:05When President Trump last addressed the BRT, when he was on the campaign trail, his big

00:09push was on tax cuts.

00:11He's going there today as he's proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs.

00:16And I'm curious for why he's prioritizing that over the tax cuts.

00:21He's actually not implementing tax hikes.

00:24Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off.

00:29Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate of

00:34tax cuts.

00:35As you know, he campaigned on no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social

00:41Security benefits.

00:42He is committed to all three of those things, and he expects Congress to pass them later

00:46this year.

00:47I'm sorry, have you ever paid a tariff?

00:48Because I have.

00:49They don't get charged on foreign companies.

00:52They get charged on the importers.

00:54And ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not

00:58seen in decades, as I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up,

01:04and our country will be made wealthy again.

01:06And I think it's insulting that you're trying to test my knowledge of economics and the

01:11decisions that this president has made.

01:13I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press.