GOP senator claps back at Trump tariff cost projections: ‘Uncharted waters’

While senators Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., cited economists’ projections that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will cost American families an extra $5,000 per year, GOP Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., insisted, “We don’t know,” suggesting those who claim they do are making fools of themselves. 

“I followed what all these economists are saying. Most of them make these late-night psychic hotlines look respectable,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital at the Capitol. “They don’t know any more than anybody else. We’re in uncharted waters here.”

According to Schumer and Luján, Americans can likely expect to see costs rise enough to equate to a $5,000 per year tax on American families.

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“When the average American family sits down and tries to figure out how they’re going to pay for things, and they hear they may pay $5,000 more than they’ve had to pay before — and they may not be able to buy a new car, they may not be able to support that new drug that grandma needs, they may not be able to take that vacation they were planning for a year — they’re going to be outraged,” Schumer told reporters. 

“It’s a huge tax on American families. All – all – to help billionaires get a tax cut.”

Luján seconded the sentiment from Schumer, pointing to the economists that Kennedy blasted as less respectable than a “late-night psychic hotline.” 

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“There’s no question that the American people are the ones that are going to be paying the brunt of this,” Luján argued. “The actuaries that have been putting out reports and other economists are suggesting that this is going to be a national sales tax on the American people of about 5,000 bucks year. That’s just not right.

“If the president would be open to using targeted tariffs as a tool — something that I’m open to and I think others are — that’s one thing,” Luján added. “But when he’s arbitrarily just going across the board and trying to slap on numbers … I’m very concerned for my constituents that are going to be paying out of pocket.”

Kennedy argued such projections had no basis in fact.

“The truth is we don’t know. These economists don’t know,” Kennedy insisted. “These are uncharted waters. We’ve not had these kind of tariffs in a long time. It may be a net positive. President Trump implemented tariffs in his first term. Didn’t seem to hurt the economy. It could be a negative. All I’m saying is that in Washington, D.C., for every economist, there’s an equal and opposite economist, and they’re usually both wrong.”