Trump’s Economic Advisor Wants to Punish Researchers Who Found 90% of Tariffs Are Paid For By Consumers

Kevin Hassett, Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, claimed that researchers responsible for a study that found 90% of tariff costs were shouldered by U.S. consumers and companies should be “disciplined.”

Hassett joined CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the study with host Joe Kernen, who asked President Donald Trump’s economic advisor if the numbers were true. Hassett dismissed the study as an “embarrassment.”

“I mean, the paper is an embarrassment. It’s, I think, the worst paper I’ve ever seen in the history of the Federal Reserve system,” he said.

Hassett went on to claim that the researchers at the New York Federal Reserve should face punishment for creating “highly partisan” news with their study.

“The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined, because what they’ve done is they’ve put out a conclusion which has created a lot of news that’s highly partisan based on analysis that wouldn’t be accepted in a first-semester econ class,” said Hassett.

He took issue with the study for focusing, he claimed, only on changes in prices while ignoring fluctuations in the quantity of imports. However, the study itself calculated “the total monthly tariff revenue divided by the total value of imports in the month.”

Hassett’s desire to discipline non-partisan Fed officials echoes his administration, which has sought to remove or bring criminal charges against multiple members of the independent agency.

President Donald Trump’s administration began a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, after months of attacking Powell for refusing implement Trump’s preferred interest rates.

In October of last year, the Supreme Court stopped President Trump from firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, pausing her removal until the court can hear the case, which remains ongoing.

Hassett himself was considered as a possible contender for Powell’s job before Trump nominated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to the job in late January. The president claimed he wanted to keep Hassett in his current position, calling the possibility that he “would lose” Hassett if he took the post “a serious concern.”

Watch above via CNBC.

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