Rupert Murdoch's media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News, are hitting back hard at President Donald Trump over his tariffs policy on U.S. imports.
While the editorial boards at the Journal and New York Post have railed against Trump's tariff decisions in recent days, some Fox News Channel hosts also have covered related news with a negative approach.
During "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday morning, co-hosts discussed the day's Post cover story claiming that small businesses are pleading for relief from tariffs.
Co-host Steve Doocy held up a copy of the newspaper as he said big companies have "plans to weather" any "pain" that results from the president's tariff plans, but small businesses do not.
"The New York Post, today, their cover story is 'Mr. Trump, Save My Business,'" Doocy said, "and what it talks about is how many mom-and-pop shops across the United States, are in really big trouble."
Doocy went on to claim that "a lot of the small businesses are having to either lay off people or hike their prices or close. And they are just not equipped."
Moments after Doocy's remarks, a correspondent "outside the bubble" at a diner in Bethpage, New York, asked voters about the tariffs. In what might have been a surprise to Doocy, all four voters said they supported the president and earned applause when saying so.
Although Doocy made it seem that many small businesses are suffering from tariffs just four full days after 145% was imposed on Chinese goods, the Post's news story reported that less than 7% of all firms surveyed "believed they were unlikely to survive the next two years."
Nevertheless, the Post's editorial board issued a warning to Trump regarding his tariffs on China, which ships goods to many stores.
"Beware the bubble, Mr. President: You're surrounded by an 'I'm alright, Jack' class of people well-insulated from the financial shocks; they have no clue about how the surcharges are clobbering small-biz owners and their patrons," the board wrote.
The Wall Street Journal's editorial board also has been busy, producing several anti-tariff columns since Sunday.
- Monday's "Xi Jinping's Anti-Tariff Tour," a column that begins, "Whatever else you might say about President Trump's trade war, it's ushering in new economic and diplomatic opportunities — for China."
- Sunday's "Trump's Exceptional Tariff Weekend," which concludes, "Welcome to the new tariff economy, where you still pay onerous taxes, endure punishing regulation, and now must also navigate the political minefield of arbitrary tariffs."
- Sunday's "The Lessons of Trump's Tariff Exemptions," which begins, "Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected."
Earlier this month, Fox Business host Stuart Varney questioned Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., and asked whether U.S. consumers should be "happy" about soon paying more for products due to the Trump administration's tariffs, Newsweek reported.
Trump has repeatedly said that he largely is using tariffs as a tool to get countries to lower their own tariffs targeting U.S. goods.
In a White House policy statement issued earlier this month, Trump stated: "Large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits have led to the hollowing out of our manufacturing base; resulted in a lack of incentive to increase advanced domestic manufacturing capacity; undermined critical supply chains; and rendered our defense-industrial base dependent on foreign adversaries."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.