Fox’s Maria Bartiromo Grimaces Over Trump Calling Tariffs ‘A Beautiful Word’ — Suggests They Might ‘Spark Inflation’

Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo grimaced after being reminded that President-elect Donald Trump had called tariffs “a beautiful word” on Tuesday before asking Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) if the ones proposed by Trump on Monday might “spark inflation.”

“President-elect Trump says he will put tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada until they stop the flow of deadly fentanyl and illegal migrants into America. Trump is promising a 25% tariff on all Canadian and Mexican goods coming into the United States. Trump is also vowing to slap China with a 10% tariff above any additional tariffs already in place,” began Bartiromo to kick off the segment. “Congressman, President Trump promised tariffs and this is how he’s starting even before getting into office. Your reaction?”

“Yeah, I think he called tariffs ‘a beautiful word,’ Maria,” observed Burlison.

“Yeah, he did,” agreed Bartiromo as a grimace gave way to a laugh.

“But look, you know, I think it’s something that we-, is necessary, is long overdue, that we kind of course correct on some of the trade imbalances that we have with other countries,” continued Burlison, who went on to make the economic case for tariffs.

“Yeah, Cowen and Company’s analysts this morning is talking about this, and in the last note, he writes this: ‘We continue to believe that countries with free trade agreements are best positioned and would have lower thresholds for relief, along with countries that have trade good surplus with the U.S. like Brazil. China clarity is unclear,'” Bartiromo said, following up. “President Trump coming at Mexico, Canada, and China strong this morning. So we’ll see how this plays out, do you think this is going to in any way spark inflation? This is the worry on the detractors around tariffs.”

“It’s going to create some winners and some losers, to be fair,” replied Burlison.

“Yeah,” agreed Bartiromo.

“But I do think that overall, it’s going to benefit the entire whole of the United States of America. And I think that the overarching inflation is going to be mitigated by the benefit that we’re going to receive by some of these trade offsets,” continued Burlison.

Watch above via Fox Business Network.