On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stated that having perpetual high tariffs is poor economic policy, “Tariffs are a tax on consumers,” and it would be beneficial if the result of yesterday’s tariff announcement is that other countries lower their tariffs and the U.S. then cuts its tariffs.
Cruz said, “I think it is a mistake to assume that we will have high tariffs in perpetuity. I don’t think that would be good economic policy. I am not a fan of tariffs. And the announcement yesterday, look, time is going to tell, in the next month or two or three what happens.”
He continued, “If the result of yesterday’s announcement is a lot of our trading partners across the globe dramatically reduce the tariffs they charge on U.S. goods and services and the consequence of that is the U.S. government dramatically cuts the tariffs that were announced yesterday, that would be a great outcome. That would be good for America. If the result is our trading partners jack up their tariffs and we have high tariffs everywhere, I think that is a bad outcome for America. Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I’m not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers. So, my hope is these tariffs are short-lived and they serve as leverage to lower tariffs across the globe.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
