If you think eggs are expensive, just wait until the new tariffs hit cars. Goldman Sachs estimates tariffs on imported vehicles could raise prices by $5,000 to $15,000. That’s because tariffs are taxes on foreign imports that are paid by American consumers. These tariffs apply to almost every conceivable product. As a result, energy will be more expensive, and gas prices in some parts of the country could see as much as a 70-cent increase in the cost per gallon. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the building of a single-family home could become up to $10,000 more expensive because of the tariffs. With the tariffs on aluminum, even beer and hard seltzer are likely to increase in price.
Unfortunately, these tax increases are on top of the taxes you have already paid when tariffs were imposed during the first Trump administration. The Tax Foundation calculated that tariffs between 2018 and 2023 imposed an additional $1,753 in costs on American families. Now that the tariffs apply to even more products, the tax increases are poised to be even higher this time. The Peterson Institute predicts tariffs could annually cost families $1,200 a year, while Yale’s Budget Lab estimates the tariffs would cost the average American family $4,200 annually.
The fact that tariffs are taxes paid by consumers is not news to the American people. That is why vehicle sales jumped almost 13% last month as Americans sought to make their purchases before the 25% tariffs on motor vehicles and parts went into effect.
VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SAYS TRUMP IS ‘TAKING THIS ECONOMY IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION’
Conservatives used to publicly acknowledge that tariffs are taxes paid by Americans. Milton Friedman stated plainly that tariffs “raise prices to customers and waste our resources.” Ronald Reagan similarly opposed protectionism because it “costs consumers billions of dollars, damages the overall economy, and destroys jobs.”
But the actions of those who now advocate for tariffs acknowledge the damage tariffs cause, even if their words do not. Recently, the Secretary of Agriculture indicated the administration was preparing programs to mitigate “economic catastrophes” for farmers harmed by tariffs—a clear admission that tariffs hurt Americans. The first Trump administration authorized $28 billion in farmer bailouts to offset financial losses caused by tariffs. Do Americans expect to get hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars back from the government to pay for their increased costs caused by the tariffs? Of course not.
Tariffs are not just bad for American families and the national economy; tariffs are also bad for Republicans.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
Tariffs have been electoral disasters for Republicans. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 caused such a spike in prices that the Republican Party lost nearly 100 seats in the House and by the end of the next election, the House, Senate, and White House were all in Democratic hands.
When the House passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff on May 28, 1929, stock prices in New York fell in June. Senate passage of the Smoot-Hawley tariff on March 24, 1930, triggered a dramatic fall in stock prices. And, on June 17, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the bill into law, the stock market plummeted even farther.
The 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff worsened the Great Depression and wiped out the Republican Party. By 1933, Republicans lost over 100 seats in the House as well as their majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Even seniority and power could not save the tariff’s authors and president who signed it into law the next time they faced the voters. Oregon Republican Congressman Willis Hawley, who served 26 years in the House, was not renominated to return to his seat. After serving five terms in the Senate, Republican Senator Reed Smoot, of Utah, was defeated in 1932. And, Herbert Hoover, the Republican president who signed Smoot-Hawley into law, lost the White House in a landslide to Franklin Roosevelt.
Republicans would be wise to rediscover their principles and oppose new and high taxes. My fellow Republicans can do that by supporting my bill, the No Taxation Without Representation Act, which would require Congress to approve any presidential proposal to impose tariffs before they are put into effect.
The truth is that tariffs are taxes. They don’t punish foreign governments; they punish American families. When we tax imports, we raise the price of everything from groceries to smartphones, washing machines, and every other conceivable product. It’s time we saved the American people from high prices and prevent the Democrat restoration to power. It’s time to terminate the tariffs.
