Peter Navarro Asked Point Blank About U.S. Businesses Concerned About Trump's Tariffs

Forbes Breaking News

4 months ago

At a press gaggle, Peter Navarro, President Trump's top trade advisor, responded to concerns about tariffs.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, thank you.

00:01And you're with?

00:02I'm with News Nation.

00:03Hannah Brown with News Nation.

00:03Oh, okay, great.

00:05Businesses have basically been saying since the start of this tariff discussion that uncertainty is the worst part for them.

00:10Are you afraid that these indecisions basically cause uncertainty?

00:14Well, they've been saying that, but they haven't been acting that.

00:17I mean, we've had a tremendous influx of investment.

00:21We've seen – here's the most important thing to understand about tariffs.

00:26There's three parties that can distribute the tariff burden, right?

00:34Not two.

00:35The media likes to say, well, it's either going to be American consumers or American businesses that are going to bear the burden of the tariffs.

00:43But, in fact, the third party is the one that actually does it.

00:46That's the foreigners who export to us.

00:50And so what we observed in the first term, when people were saying the same thing about uncertainty and inflation and all that,

00:58we observed very clearly that the countries that send – rely most heavily on us,

01:05the most export-dependent economies like China, like India, like Europe, like Vietnam, like Indonesia, like Malaysia, like Thailand,

01:14and all of these countries we run massive deficits with, they had no choice other than to lower their prices when we raise our tariffs.

01:22And so we don't see inflation coming in.

01:26And so I – look, the domestic – the businesses are elated with the protection we're giving them across the board.

01:34And, you know, on Labor Day, let's celebrate the revival now of our steel and aluminum industries, which is the tariff itself.

01:42So you've all been patient.

01:44Sorry, don't you see that as a gamble the administration is taking, that the burden won't fall on businesses in American consumers?

01:49It's not a gamble.

01:50It's economics.

01:51And we know where the burden goes.

01:53I mean, the problem is – the problem is when you ask me that question,

01:56if you were asking me the question in 2018, after we put the China tariffs in, I'd have to speculate as an economist.

02:03But the problem is now, for those who make that criticism, is we have the data.

02:08It just didn't happen.

02:10China ate the whole damn thing.

02:12And they're going to do it again, just like all these other countries are going to do it.

02:15And it's just a beautiful thing for the American people.

02:20America, we love you here at the White House.

02:22Happy Labor Day.

02:23And I'll be back tomorrow and the next day.

02:26Just quickly on the de minimis, do you see a scenario where that ever comes back?

Peter Navarro Asked Point Blank About U.S. Businesses Concerned About Trump's Tariffs

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