Former Trump Senior Economic Adviser Stephen Moore told Newsmax on Wednesday that the United States might be in for "a little rough sledding" over the next few weeks, when it comes to President Donald Trump's tariffs, but they will ultimately bring about "freer and fairer trade."
"I'm an old-fashioned free trade guy and I've always believed in the kind of [former President Ronald] Reagan vision that North America should be one big free-trade zone," Moore said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Trump did negotiate a good trade deal in his first term, the [United States-Mexico-Canada] free trade deal, so I'd like to see this skirmish come to an end.
"But Trump has a point: Why is it, if we have a free trade deal with Canada, that they're charging over 100% tariffs on some of our agriculture goods, our dairy products? That doesn't sound like free trade to me. I was shocked when the White House showed me some of these numbers of what Canada is charging the United States."
In a Tuesday interview with Newsmax, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that high Canadian tariffs on U.S. goods are due to the trade deal Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico during his first administration. Ford defended Canada's trade policies, rejected accusations that tariffs are unfair, and stressed the close economic relationship between the U.S. and Canada.
Moore said that Canada "is going to have to bring those tariffs down" because "they need to trade with the United States."
"They cannot win a tit for tat trade war with the United States, because we're such a bigger economy than theirs," he said. "They need access to our markets. So, this is going to be a little rough sledding, I think, in the next few weeks, but I think, at the end of the day, Trump will prevail and we will then end up with freer and fairer trade."
The former Trump adviser also commented on the latest inflation data, which shows that inflation in February declined to 2.8% year over year instead of the predicted 2.9%.
"It is pretty good news, although there's still an inflation hangover effect from [former President Joe] Biden," Moore said. "If you look at the last four or five months, the inflation rate was climbing and that's in large part because of Biden's massive spending spree in his last three months in office, where they spent every penny they could get their hands on. So, I don't think the inflation problem is conquered yet.
The inflation rate was 2.9% in December 2024 and rose to 3% in January.
"This is why lowering government spending is so important, because you've got to drain a lot of that excess federal spending and federal money printing out of the system," he continued. "So, a pretty good report, but not great. And don't forget, in Trump's first term we had 2% inflation throughout his first term, so he knows how to conquer inflation. Don't forget also that, under Biden, the inflation rate went up to as high as 9.2%."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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