Fox’s Steve Doocy Spars With Co-Hosts Over Trump Tariffs: ‘He Might Have to Go Out of Business’

Fox News’ Steve Doocy sparred with his Fox & Friends co-hosts over President Donald Trump’s tariff policy on Wednesday after highlighting a New York Post story about a man whose business has been threatened by them.

“There’s an item in The New York Post that we all have in front of us. It’s an exclusive story. And it talks about how with these 104% tariffs that went into effect, you know, we think that China is going to have to pay for it. But it tells a story of a special needs toy importer, and when the tariffs went into affect at midnight his tariff  — he’s been paying a tariff because he gets stuff from China, $26,000 a year. His tariff bill went from $26,000 at midnight to $346,000. And that’s money he’s gonna-, have to come out of his pocket,” Doocy said to kick off the conversation. “It sounds like he’s going to have to go ahead and close down part of his business. He tried to make the toys in the United States, but the tariff on his most popular item went from zero to $17 at midnight. And what he told The New York Post is, ‘People don’t understand the tariff situation. They think just foreign countries are paying for the tariffs. That’s not true. Half of the tariffs are being paid for by U.S. based companies.’ So when you look at the big numbers and they look good, just remember that according to this guy, half of the small businesses, and half of the tariffs are being paid by Americans.”

“I’ll say this, I’m still holding back judgment on this because I feel like we may be missing something here. And the way I look at it is I have two groups of friends. I have my more wealthy friends, the ones that are on Wall Street and all that. And then I have friends that are in the farming community, middle class — they’re cheering it on. Meanwhile, my friends that are more rich and wealthy are ticked off,” replied Lawrence Jones. “I think the elites have gotten used to a certain lifestyle and what we were invested in the market and all that. But he’s [Trump] fighting for though the little guy right now.”

Ainsley Earhardt then reiterated a point made by Trump administration officials that “it may be challenging at times” because the U.S. is entering “a moment of drastic, overdue change.”

“Well, the problem is, you know, like that guy in Idaho, he might have to go out of business,” Doocy shot back before Brian Kilmeade interrupted to suggest the tariffs might re-shore the shrimping industry.

“I think that people are not going to be remembering these 2 weeks if we can set up the next 20 years by reconfiguring trade and being smarter in the future,” submitted Kilmeade.

Watch above via Fox News.