Fox’s Maria Bartiromo Confronts Trump On Tariffs Plan That May ‘Increase The Debt More Than Kamala Harris’
Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo confronted former President Donald Trump on his sweeping tariff proposal and claims from economists that his 200 percent tariff plan would spike national debt and consumer prices.
Trump has made tariffs a cornerstone of his economic strategy for a potential second term.
During an exclusive interview on Sunday Morning Futures, Bartiromo pressed him on the idea.
Bartiromo began: “News in your Detroit speech. I want to get your take on your economic policy. You said you want to eliminate taxes on tips. On overtime pay. Ending double taxation. Interest tax deductible. You even introduce a 15 percent tax rate to encourage companies to produce in America and hire American workers. But how will you pay for it? The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says your plans will increase the debt by $7.5 trillion.”
“But they don’t know…” Trump replied.
“The Wall Street Journal says your plans will increase the debt and deficit more than Kamala Harris’s,” the anchor pressed.
Trump continued warning that China was building car factories in Mexico that would hurt the US auto industry if completed but that his friend had told him the construction on those factories had stopped, for fear of Trump’s tariff policy.
He said: “If I get elected, I will put a 200 percent tariff on every car and you will never sell them into the United States because if they ever build those plants Detroit is finished. South Carolina is finished. Everything is finished. They think they will go over there and build the biggest plants in the world in Mexico and sell them in, not going to happen. The autoworkers are way down in the last four or five months. They’re doing this ridiculous electric mandate. You sell gas-propelled cars, you sell hybrids, and you sell electric. Electric is great, it’s wonderful for some people, but not for everybody. As soon as I started talking about what I’m going to do, they stopped building all of the plants in Mexico. I said I would put tariffs. It is a beautiful word. It is a word that will make our country rich again. Without tariffs we have a busted country.”
Bartiromo returned to her question: “What about the criticism, the Journal has done this as well, if you put 200 percent tariffs on a product that’s only going to mean higher prices for consumers. It’s got to be passed on somehow.”
Trump didn’t back down: “Put 200 or 500, I don’t care. I’ll put a number where they cannot sell one car. I do not want them to sell their car because I don’t want them hurting our car companies. We will have a lot of companies moving into the United States. When I use 200, I don’t want their cars. They will not be able to sell cars.”
Lamenting the decline of car manufacturing in the US, he added: “We will not let them sell cars from a nice new factory owned by China, located in Mexico.”
“So your think is the threat of a 200 percent tariff will stop them from taking the car. So you won’t actually have to do it, so you’re not actually going to push prices higher – that is your thinking?” Bartiromo asked.
“Now I’m saying 200; I am using it as a figure of speech,” the former president replied.
“But you say 200 a lot,” Bartiromo pressed back.
“I will say 100, 200, I’ll say 500. I do not care. They will not bring cars into this country from Mexico and destroy what car companies we have left. But much more than that, I will protect the company when it comes to the United States. We have a lot of companies that will come in. Remember, we have the real market.”
He continued: “If we keep running like we are for the last three or four years, we will lose all of that. Relying on the dollar. If they do not rely on the dollar, then I will not let them sell to the United States. If you do not rely on us as a currency of choice, then you will not be able to do business with the United States and you know what they will say, ‘I love the dollar very much.’ Every single one of them. Because we are losing that, you know China is trying to take that away from us.”
He added: “By the way, I will say the same thing. 27.5 percent tariff on cars from China. They have not been able to pillage our country and close up our factories; otherwise, they would be selling cars here like hotcakes. If you take a look at what they are doing to Europe, China is destroying the automobile business in Europe.”
“I’m wondering how you will pay for this no tax on stuff, and you said that there’s a lot of fat in government,” the anchor said.
Trump pushed back: “I gave you an answer: Growth. We will grow at a level you have never seen before. We will have tremendous jobs and we will have companies coming in left and right and they will build factories. They will take over empty from all over the place that companies left.”
Watch above on Fox News.
