Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at a rally for former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Including key allies and proxies of former President Donald Trump tesla CEO Elon Musk agrees with economists that President Trump’s economic policy plan will raise prices for consumers, but Trump’s allies say the effect will be higher. argues that it’s worth it in the short and long term.
On Tuesday, Musk agreed: social media posts The authors of on
“That’s right,” I replied. muskone of Trump’s most famous billionaire backers.
dozens of independents economistWall Street analysts and researcher President Trump’s plan for a second term threatens to widen the federal deficit and reignite inflation.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has capitalized on that criticism, branding President Trump’s proposed tariffs and the potential for associated price increases “unfair.”trump consumption tax. ”
Trump’s representatives acknowledged that the former president’s economic platform, which includes universal tariffs on imported goods, especially Chinese products, would have an immediate effect on consumer price inflation for imported goods if passed. He’s not the only one.
Last week, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, co-chair of the Trump Vance 2025 transition team, also said that Trump would not impose tariffs like the ones he has promised to impose on foreign goods. He acknowledged that prices would rise.
In an interview Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Lutnick responded to a question about whether universal tariffs would effectively apply, saying, “Correct: If we raise tariffs on just this specific product, yes, the price will be higher,” he said. Short-term sales tax.
Lutnick said higher prices for imported goods would encourage consumers to buy domestic alternatives, but noted the strategy would fail for products the U.S. doesn’t produce.
“If you don’t make that particular product, it’s [price] “It’s going to go up,” he said.
President Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, also nods that President Trump’s plan for sweeping tariffs could hurt consumers, but that it’s worth getting as much benefit as possible. He claimed that there was.
“From a consumer perspective, everything you lose in tariffs you gain in higher wages, so you end up much better off,” Vance said in an August paper. interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Cantor Fitzgerald chairman and chief executive officer gestures and speaks at a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. president Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024 in New York, USA. Mr. Howard Lutnick, CEO.
Andrew Kelly Reuter
But recent comments from Musk, Lutnick and others also reflect a new tactic Trump allies are using to deflect these attacks: accepting immediate pain for the sake of the bottom line. Pointed out.
In response to CNBC’s request for comment on the president’s surrogate’s recent remarks, the Trump campaign rejected the idea that his policy proposals would cause short-term pain, instead blaming his Democratic opponents for the economic crisis. he claimed.
Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes: “The only pain Americans will face will be four more years of Mr. Kamala’s failed economic policies.” he told CNBC in a statement.
Republican National Committee spokeswoman Anna Kelly echoed Hughes in a separate statement, saying, “While Ms. Harris cannot honestly continue her story, the truth remains the same: Ms. Harris “I have always opposed tariffs because, first of all, I don’t trust them.”
