Mike Pence Drops Scathing Criticism of Trump’s Tariffs: ‘Largest Peacetime Tax Hike in U.S. history’
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped a scathing criticism of President Donald Trump’s widespread global tariffs after they were announced on Wednesday evening.
“The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year,” Pence posted of his former boss on X.
The conservative Republican attached a handout fact sheet from his Advancing American Freedom PAC titled, “Spoiling America’s Golden Age.”
The document began by declaring the “Tariffs Could End America’s Golden Age Before It Begins” and added:
TOPLINE: President Trump was elected to restore America’s economy after four years of Bidenflation.
However, Trump’s tariff taxes could cost American families thousands of dollars a year, destroy American jobs, and potentially lose conservatives their governing majority. The Trump Tariff Tax will cost American families more than $3,500 per year:
Estimates from Goldman Sachs place the annual tariff impact close to $300 billion a year. о The median American family earns about $101,000 a year. A new $3,500 tax would easily erase three years’ worth of pay raises for most families.
Trump’s personal trade advisor Peter Navarro predicts an even bleaker $600 billion in new tariffs every year, equal to a $7,000 annual tariff burden on each American family.
American dream purchases-such as a new car or a home-could cost ~$7,000 dollars more, destroying years’ worth of savings.
The handout repeated the claim that Trump’s 10% baseline tariff and scheme of so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on countries around the world, with the exception of Russia, were “the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history.” The document added:
• The proposed tariffs would be the highest levels since the 1800s-exceeding the 1920s levels that contributed to the Great Depression:
• These are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration. Trump’s Tariff Tax threatens to wipe out the entire value of the 2017 Trump-Pence tax cuts for the bottom 40% of workers.BUSINESS 101: Uncertainty kills American jobs:
• 1,230 Americans at Ohio-based steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs are losing their jobs. Whirlpool announced 651 layoffs at an lowa factory. Wolfspeed (a semiconductor firm) announced the elimination of 180 North Carolina jobs, while Milgard Manufacturing announced a layoff affecting nearly 400 Californian workers.
Last year, GM distributed $14,500 and Ford paid out $10,400 in profit-sharing bonuses to union employees. The Trump Tariff Tax threatens to zero out these bonuses.
Pence’s indictment ended by noting, “Americans elected President Trump to fix the economy.”
“Failure to fix Bidenomics will devastate conservatives’ prospects next election season. During the first half of the Biden presidency, real wages declined and remained below 2020 levels. This stagnation was a leading factor behind Harris’ loss,” continued the handout, concluding:
The Trump Tariff Tax will decimate real family income just like Bidenflation. Only 39 percent of voters now approve Trump’s handling of the economy-his lowest rating of either term.
BOTTOMLINE: American families are still reeling from 20% Bidenflation. An equally large Trump Tariff Tax will hurt families and make them look elsewhere come the next election.
Pence and Trump parted ways following the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and Pence’s refusal to help Trump overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Pence, however, did show up at Trump’s second inauguration in what many saw as an attempt at reconciliation or at least party unity.
