'Nobody Actually Can Tell Where Those Numbers Are Coming From': Jason Crow Torches Trump Tariffs

1 hour ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) gave his unvarnished take on President Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00It's interesting because Democrats and Republicans alike are talking about that short-term pain.

00:05But what do you think the long-term implication is?

00:07Because economists, as you said, say, hey, we're getting dangerously close to a recession here

00:13because of this tariff policy. Tariffs are widely expected to raise prices and inflation rates.

00:18They're expected, as we said, to shrink consumer spending and disposable income.

00:22No one wants to hear that when the economy has continued to be a top concern for Americans

00:27over the past two years or so, and especially with summer right around the corner.

00:31So what do you think are some of those long-term implications to Americans?

00:35Well, you know, I think another really important fact here must be stated, and that is this list

00:41of numbers that are the basis for the so-called reciprocal tariffs, because it sounds great,

00:47right? You just say, oh, we're going to impose tariffs that are similar to what they're imposing

00:53on us. But the problem is, is those numbers, nobody knows where they come from. Economists,

00:59businesses, people in industry, they're looking at this literal chart of numbers that the Trump

01:05administration has publicized, you know, 39 percent, 28 percent, 25 percent. And nobody

01:12actually can tell where those numbers are coming from because they're not actually supported by

01:16reality and they don't add up to the number the Trump administration is saying they add up to.

01:23So there's a very real problem here in that the White House and Donald Trump appear to be creating

01:30these numbers out of whole cloth and then imposing these tariffs that will be disastrous for working

01:35class Americans that are going to undermine our relationships around the world and actually make

01:41it harder for American manufacturers that rely on raw materials and supplies from imports to

01:47actually create their products. So this is not well thought out and it's going to cause a lot

01:52of damage to a lot of folks. Aside from the auto workers union who was supporting the auto related

01:57tariffs, the response to these tariffs has largely been negative. I mean, we saw markets open today

02:03and they took a nosedive. An editorial in The Economist called Liberation Day the, quote,

02:08most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era.

02:13Politically speaking, do you think this tariff policy is going to be a death sentence for

02:18Republicans? Well, I don't know. I think that remains to be seen. And I'm frankly a lot less

02:24concerned about what this means politically and whether it's a death sentence for a political

02:28party than the impact it's going to have. The people who are going to lose homes,

02:32the people who are going to lose jobs, the people who aren't going to be able to buy groceries for

02:36their family, like that's who I'm worried about. And that's who's really going to be crushed by

02:42this. Listen, this has never worked. You know, these broad based tariffs, we tried this in the

02:461930s to raise revenue and try to get us out of the Great Depression. Guess what? It actually

02:52plunged us further into the Great Depression. So I don't understand why the Trump administration

02:58believes that a policy or an approach that has repeatedly failed in the past, they think for

03:03some reason is going to work right now. It's just not. That's proven. I mean, already people are

03:08losing money in their 401k and their retirement plan, already seen increases in goods. This is

03:15once again a perfect example of the Trump administration creating self-inflicted pain

03:22that's unnecessary. And that's the wrong approach, whether it's destroying vast swaths of

03:28central government services and our national security and our defense and our aviation safety

03:33and our health care system, or whether it's turning their backs on our allies and our

03:39partners that fight with us around the world and who we rely on for our national security,

03:44or in this instance, undermining our economy and our import export system because they haven't

03:50thought this well, well out or they haven't really thought this through at all. It's really a problem.

'Nobody Actually Can Tell Where Those Numbers Are Coming From': Jason Crow Torches Trump Tariffs

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