MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace slammed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, accusing her of being “either tragically uninformed or lying” after Leavitt claimed that tariffs amount to a tax cut for Americans.
Wallace’s comments came in response to a heated exchange at a White House press briefing in which Leavitt clashed with Associated Press journalist Josh Boak over the economic impact of tariffs.
The confrontation highlighted growing tensions over President Trump’s trade policies, which have roiled financial markets and triggered backlash from economic experts.
During the press conference, Boak questioned Leavitt on whether Trump’s tariffs constituted a tax hike on American consumers.
Leavitt firmly rejected that notion, responding: “He’s actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off.”
“Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate for tax cuts,” Leavitt said.
Boak pushed back, pressing Leavitt on whether she had ever personally paid a tariff.
“They don’t get charged on foreign companies; they get charged on importers,” he countered.
Leavitt fired back, saying: “I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decision that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to The Associated Press.”
Later that evening on MSNBC, Wallace aired the exchange before offering her own scathing critique of Leavitt’s remarks.
“I mean, she’s awash in regret and remorse and offense, but she’s either tragically uninformed or lying,” Wallace said.
“There is no economist that’s been tapped to sit in Donald Trump’s Cabinet who would testify under oath to what she just said, ‘tariffs are a tax cut for the American people.’ Simply the opposite is reality.”
Wallace’s guest, The Atlantic’s Annie Lowry, agreed, saying tariffs function as a tax on domestic consumers rather than foreign producers.
“So, tariffs are taxes paid by American consumers. They raise prices for American businesses and American households,” Lowry said.
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
Tariffs, a long-standing policy tool used by governments to raise revenue and protect domestic industries, have become a central pillar of Trump’s economic strategy since his return to office on Jan. 20.
His administration has aggressively expanded tariffs, igniting fresh trade disputes with key allies.
Most recently, a trade conflict has erupted between the US and the European Union after the bloc announced retaliatory measures in response to new American tariffs.
On April 1, the EU is set to impose duties on various US industrial and agricultural goods, a response to Trump’s decision to increase tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from the EU to 25%.
The escalation has rattled financial markets.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 478 points, while the S&P 500 fell 10 percent below its February record high.
The volatility intensified after Trump suggested that he might impose additional tariffs on Canada in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s threat to tax electricity exports to the northern United States.
Despite the stock market turmoil, Trump dismissed concerns while speaking to reporters on the South Lawn.
“Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but we need to rebuild our country. Our country has been stripped of its jobs and its factories,” he said.
The president also took a swipe at the previous administration, calling Biden’s economic policies a “fake economy.”
He argued that tariffs would drive investment back into American businesses, injecting trillions of dollars into the domestic economy.
“I’m very optimistic about the country. We’re going to have the greatest markets we’ve ever had,” the president said.
Trump acknowledged the possibility of short-term economic pain but insisted it was necessary to restore American manufacturing dominance.
“I think our country had to do this. We had to do this,” he said. “Other countries have taken away our businesses, taken away our jobs.”