Posted April 11, 2025 | by KimS | in 2025 Trump Administration, Elon Musk, Impeachment

DrmDaily: Trump’s Terrible Tariffs

April 11, 2025

Donald Trump’s terrible tariff plan was a dangerous riverboat gamble that has thrown the economy into a raging fit of chaos and confusion. The stock market and 401K retirement accounts crashed and the proposal fanned fears of inflation.

Fearing the political blowback, he appropriately chose to raise the white flag on his foolish gambit Wednesday -- on the anniversary of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. The drama isn’t over! He merely postponed the implementation for 90 days except for the new levies on China.

*This is a guest column by pollster, journalist and Deadline D.C.* host Brad Bannon**

This is a guest column by pollster, journalist and Deadline D.C. host Brad Bannon

Trump’s on-and-off approach to raising taxes, excuse me tariffs, have given consumers whiplash. Should they stay or should they go? The president’s erratic handling of the issue is a dangerous omen for the rest of his presidency and the stability of the economy.

Tariffs are taxes on imported products and Trump’s executive order would have been one of the biggest tax increases in recent American history.

It’s essentially a national sales tax that consumers will pay on top of their local property, state sales and income and federal taxes. The Tax Foundation estimated that the terrible Trump tariff will amount to an average tax hike of $1,900 annually for American households.

Trump’s tariffs are both reckless and reactionary. They are sadly reminiscent of the punishing 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff in the United States and the economic nationalism that exacerbated the suffering after the onslaught of the Great Depression with the collapse of the stock market the previous year.

Noted economist Dr. Robert Shapiro, who appeared on my podcast, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon, reminded my audience that great economic theorists of all ideological stripes from Karl Marx to Milton Friedman believed really big tariffs are really bad ideas. He went on to say that Trump tariffs constitute a self-inflicted wound to the strength of the American economy.

Tariffs were a serious crack in Trump’s MAGA armor. Four GOP Senators -- Paul, Murkowski, Collins and McConnell -- voted for legislation that would reverse The Donald’s punitive taxes on our great North American ally, Canada. Before the president punted on his proposal, seven Republican senators had signed onto a bill that would have given Congress the power to override tariff rates.

The president’s trade proposals were a double whammy for people saving for retirement. Trump’s tariff plans led to a sharp decline in the value of stocks on Wall Street, which in turn decimated the 401K retirement accounts of millions of Americans.= At the same time, the Trump/ Musk administration is making it harder with Social Security Administration office closings and personnel cutbacks to get back the money you paid into your retirement account all your life.

The president’s economic guru, Elon Musk made his disdain for the lifesaving Social Security benefits perfectly clear when he called the program a “Ponzi Scheme”. Extremists like Musk will never be satisfied until they completely gut the precious program they are now trying to undermine.

If all that isn’t bad enough, prices continue to rise under the new president who stated on the campaign trail last year that prices would drop on the first day of his second term. Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve Board warned Americans last Friday that the president’s executive order on tariffs could increase the price of consumer goods and halt national economic growth.

Attention Walmart shoppers, Trump’s red light special, the tariff hikes would add bigly to the prices you pay there. But don’t worry if you’re a banker or billionaire who bankrolled Trump’s campaign and shop at Neiman Marcus, you’re getting a tax cut while the Trump voters who shop at Walt Mart will be paying higher prices for the many Chinese goods sold there.

The Dow Jones isn’t the only thing in freefall. A new national survey by the Reuters News Service indicates that the president’s approval rating (43%) is the lowest it has been since his second term inaugural on January 20 . The same survey shows that most Americans believe his tariffs are detrimental to the health of the economy. It’s a safe bet to assume that these bad numbers will only get worse as the full impact of his harmful financial policies undo the economic gains achieved under his Democratic predecessor.

The terrible tariffs are temporarily gone but in the process the opposition united Democrats. Now that the party has regrouped after shaking off the impact of Trump’s shock and awe campaign, it is in a much better position to advance in unison against the president.

Democrats are uniting behind an economic message that is clearly their best line of attack against the incumbent. He has failed abjectly to fight inflation and Democrats must pounce on his broken promise. Democratic strategist Carville is right; “It’s the economy, stupid.”.

Thursday House Republicans passed a budget resolution that will pave the way for huge tax cuts for bankers and billionaires with massive cuts in medical benefits and nutrition programs. “Benefits Over Billionaires” is catching on as an anti-Trump slogan. It’s a great way to preview the brutal battle over the security of the social safety net.

Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research, which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular podcast, Deadline D.C.. An earlier version of this column appeared in The Hill: Trump's Terribly Tariffs: A Double Whammy for Americans