Ted Cruz's warning to Trump about tariffs
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has made it not secret he's not a fan of tariffs, and he had a dire message for President Donald Trump as the trade war escalates. The Republican lawmaker said the president has the opportunity for the 'most extraordinary economic win' for the U.S., but he also had a warning.
'There are voices in the administration that rather than take a deal, are saying "we want to have tariffs as a long term permanent feature of the economy,"' he said. 'I think that'd be a mistake,' Cruz added.
He warned if a year from now, U.S. trading partners have 'jacked up' prices on American products while the U.S. has tariffs, he believes it will hurt the country. Cruz urged Trump to take deals and lower tariffs 'all around' as he claimed the president proposed during his first term.
The Texas firebrand and Trump ally made his comments during a group interview with fellow Republican senators on Fox News' Hannity Tuesday night. 'If the path forward is continued high tariffs from America and continued or even higher tariffs from our trading partners into perpetuity, that's a terrible outcome,' he repeated to a group of reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
Cruz's assessment comes as a nasty fight has been brewing between officials in the Trump administration over tariffs which has spilled out into the public. At the same time, as Trump's tariffs have gone into effect, China, the European Union and other countries have announced a series of retaliatory tariffs while some 70 countries have also reached out to make deals.
The Texas senator said if Trump's tariffs lead to deals in the next few months that lower trade barriers, improve market access and reduce tariffs, it's a great outcome. Cruz is one of multiple Republican senators who have expressed concerns over Trump's tariff plan.
His remarks were similar to a warning he made on his Verdict podcast earlier this week where he said there are voices in the administration that want the tariffs to still be in place for years to come. Cruz argued that they 'want tariffs to be the main source of economic revenue for the federal government.'
The senator questioned how much of the tariffs are being used as leverage to get deals with other countries and how much of it is about raising revenues for the government. Cruz noted claims that the tariffs could get rid of the income tax, but he pointed out that there are currently tariffs on top of the income tax.
'That's just a ton more taxes,' he argued, noting that he does not actually see anyone proposing getting rid of the income tax. 'If the outcome from these tariffs is really high tariffs from every country on earth against American goods and really high tariffs from America against goods from every other country on earth, that is going to be really bad for Texas and really bad for America,' he warned.
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