White House adviser Peter Navarro on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump's tariff policies on Newsmax, arguing there is no evidence they have driven up prices for American consumers.
Navarro, who also served as a top economic adviser in Trump's first term, pushed back against claims that tariffs are harming U.S. consumers by raising prices.
On "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," he rejected the common criticism that tariffs function as a tax on Americans.
"There's no evidence of that," Navarro said. "The problem the critics have is history. We heard all of that in the first term. Tariffs were going to be inflationary. They were a tax on the consumer. But as an economist, I can tell you it's a problem of what we call incidence analysis — who bears the burden.
"And again, the second rule here is that the more a country depends on the United States markets for their economy, the more they're going to eat the tariffs. And that's what we've been witnessing."
Citing data from Trump's first term, Navarro said that tariffs on steel, aluminum, and Chinese imports did not contribute to inflation.
"In the first term, we didn't see any inflation from the steel and aluminum tariffs. Nothing from the China tariffs," Navarro said.
He added that the trend continues under Trump's second administration.
"We've raised over $100 billion so far with tariffs, and inflation continues to go down — including today, when you saw the latest report," he said.
Navarro also rejected the notion that tariffs are a form of taxation on Americans, instead characterizing them as a net benefit for the U.S. economy.
"It's not a tax. It's a tax cut," he said. "We're using the tariff revenues basically to fund partially the big, beautiful bill. And that turns a big, beautiful bill from being a possible addition to the debt into a reduction in debt by the tune of trillions of dollars."
Tariffs, which are taxes levied on imported goods, have long been a tool of U.S. trade policy. While critics argue that they lead to higher prices for domestic consumers, supporters claim that they help protect American industries and generate revenue.
Under the Constitution, Congress holds the authority to set tariffs, although some of that power has been delegated to the president. Trump used that authority to impose tariffs on a range of imports in his first term, a policy that has continued into his second administration.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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