Trump was pressed during an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” over whether he could guarantee American families won’t pay more because of tariffs he has pledged to impose.
“I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow. But I can say that if you look at my — just pre-COVID, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country,” Trump responded.
When Welker noted that U.S. companies like Walmart, Stanley Black & Decker and others have warned that tariffs will force them to increase their prices, Trump again insisted tariffs boost the economy.
“They also solve another problem,” Trump said. “If we were going to have problems having to do with wars and having to do with other things, tariffs — I have stopped wars with tariffs by saying, ‘You guys want to fight, it’s great. But both of you are going to pay tariffs to the United States at 100 percent.’”
The president-elect has for months pledged to impose blanket tariffs on all imports, a plan economists have warned could spike the cost of goods in the United States and cause companies to pass along increased costs to consumers.
But Trump has shrugged off those concerns, claiming the tariffs will cause more companies to do business inside the U.S.
The Hill’s Brett Samuels has more here.
