Appearing on CNN’s The Source on Monday, Mike Pence expressed serious reservations about President Donald Trump’s tariff proposals, arguing they would drive up prices and make life harder for American consumers, particularly families relying on affordable goods.
Pence told host Kaitlan Collins that while addressing trade imbalances is important, the current approach lacks precision. “I do have concerns, that with the president’s call for broad based tariffs against friend and foe alike that ultimately the administration is advancing policies that are not targeted at countries that have been abusing our trade relationship, but rather are essentially new industrial policy that will result in inflation, that will harm consumers and ultimately harm the American economy.”
When Collins brought up a point Trump has made recently—that Americans, including children, might simply have to get used to having fewer toys—she asked Pence if he thought that line of reasoning would resonate with voters. “One argument he’s been making lately is that maybe children will have to make do with fewer toys, fewer dolls,” she said. “Do you think the American people buy that argument?”
Pence answered by sharing a personal perspective as a father and grandfather. “I have two grown daughters. I have three small granddaughters. And, look, keeping dolls affordable, keeping our kids toys affordable, that really is part of the American Dream,” he said.
Reflecting on his own family’s experience, Pence pushed back against the notion that cheap goods are unimportant to American life. “I remember recently the Secretary of the Treasury said that cheap goods was not a part of the American Dream. Well, I’m somebody who spent almost my entire life in public service. We lived on our paycheck while we raised three kids and put three kids through college. Cheap goods were a big part of it. And I think we ought to be candid about that.”
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{Matzav.com}