Cnn’s Kaitlan Collins Calls Bs On Trump Claim Tariffs Will Make Businesses ‘rich’: ‘tariffs Are Taxes’

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins called BS on President Donald Trump over his claim that tariffs are going to make small business owners “much richer,” noting “tariffs are taxes” and it’s “unclear” how that would work.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over a thousand points Monday and continued to slide all week as Trump’s trade policies and  repeated refusal to rule out the possibility of an impending recession contributed to market unease.

As the Dow was plunging another 521 points Thursday, Trump continued to preach tariffs as he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office and met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins opened her show by painting the picture of a Trump White House in denial about the warning signs that many see in the economy — and pointedly pushing back ON Trump’s claims about tariffs:

COLLINS: Inside the White House tonight, President Trump is shrugging off the growing pessimism, over his expanding trade war, only digging in and becoming more defiant, as he’s now threatening some of his biggest tariffs yet.

Even though there are real concerns that this would very quickly spiral out of control, we’re hearing from the Vice President JD Vance, in a new interview tonight, sounding confident about his boss’ plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Can you rule out the possibility, as Reagan faced in his first term in office, coming off a terrible economic calamity for the country, can you rule out a recession, even a temporary one?

JD VANCE (R), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Well, look, you never can predict the future. But I think the economy, the fundamentals of the economy, are actually quite strong right now.

And we’ll see how this unfolds, Laura. But I think that by inducing more businesses to invest in American workers, by reshoring some of those critical supply chains, we are going to make this economy stronger over the long haul, and that is the President’s ultimate goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: But that confidence, coming from the White House, is not really doing much, if anything, to calm the anxiety, as we see markets plunging again today, as the S&P is now in correction territory, meaning it’s down 10 percent from its recent high, less than a month ago.

And yet, from my view at the White House today, up close and personal, the President and his aides aren’t sounding worried. In fact, they sound just the opposite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I’m not going to bend at all, aluminum or steel or cars. We’re not going to bend. We’ve been ripped off as a country for many, many years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many American small businessowners say they are concerned that these tariffs are going to hurt them. What’s your message to them?

TRUMP: They’re going to be so much richer than they are right now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Of course, tariffs are taxes, and more often than not, we see a lot of businesses pass those on to consumers. So, it’s unclear how small businesses are going to get so much richer, as the President says. That remains to be seen, as that plays out.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.