‘Makes No Sense’: Rand Paul Rips Trump’s ‘Fake Accounting’ Behind Tariffs
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized President Donald Trump’s “fake accounting” that led to the government’s recent tariffs against dozens of countries, Tuesday, claiming that the logic behind the tariffs made “no sense.”
“You’re opposed to what Mr. Trump is doing,” said Fox Business host Larry Kudlow during an interview with Paul. “Tell us why. Tell us what you’re thinking.”
The Republican senator replied:
Well you know, I’m kind of old fashioned, Larry. I don’t like taxes and I don’t want more of them. I also think that if you tax something, you get less of it, and I don’t want less trade. I want more trade. There’s a fundamental argument we have to have in this country: is trade good or bad? The president and his counsellors seem to think that in trade, someone gets ripped off.
The truth of the matter is this, that all trade is mutually beneficial, and really the U.S. doesn’t trade with China, you trade with Walmart. So when I go to Walmart, if I pay ten dollars for a shirt, I want that shirt and they want my ten bucks, and we both go away from the deal having succeeded. We mutually benefited. That’s the only reason trade happens. And then if you add it all up and say, “Oh, China’s ripping us off,” that makes no sense. Trade deficits are not real accounting. It’s a fake accounting and it doesn’t mean anything.
He concluded, “What means something is if you look at trade deficits in proportion to prosperity, the higher the trade deficits, the more prosperity. The lower the trade deficits, the less prosperity. We get a reduction in trade deficits when we go into a recession. We get an expansion of trade deficits when we’re in a boom. So really nothing about a trade deficit gives any real useful instruction to the economy.”
Kudlow replied, “Well actually, I don’t know whether you’re surprised or not, but I agree with you about trade deficits.”
Paul has been a vocal critic of Trump’s various trade wars, and was accused by the president of being disloyal after he opposed the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada.
“The whole debate is so fundamentally backwards and upside down,” protested Paul on Tuesday. “It’s based on a fallacy.”
The senator also warned that the economic effects of Trump’s tariffs could lead to a “political decimation” for the Republican Party in the next election.
Watch above via Fox Business.
