Richard Quest blasts Trump’s tariffs as ‘economic nonsense’, says US consumers will finally pay for them

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump announced extensive tariffs of at least 10% on most goods coming from foreign nations into the US in a major escalation of his trade war and CNN International' host Richard Quest is not happy with it, calling it “economic nonsense”.

On Wednesday, April 2, the president imposed the new rule, effective from midnight on Thursday, while deeming it as a “declaration of economic independence,” as per the CNN.

During the Rose Garden event, Trump said, “We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us, so the tariffs will not be reciprocal.”

“I could have done that, I guess, but it would have been tough for a lot of countries and we didn’t want to do that,” Trump added.

Richard Quest calls Trump’s extensive tariffs announcement ‘economic nonsense’

Following this decision, Quest appeared on ‘CNN NewsNight’ on Wednesday to discuss the move.

When host Abby Phillip asked, “There are a lot of things that were said today, but the idea of slapping–willy–nilly it seems – tariffs on basically the entire world will do what for the economy?” the 63-year-old fired back, as per MEDIA ITE.

He said, “It will send it into reverse. Let there be no doubt about this. The president said today a whole load of economic nonsense, things that we know simply will not happen.”

“He talks about it being great for the economy and it’s going to boost growth. It will not!” he claimed.

Richard Quest slams Trump for forgetting past

The British journalist continued that he’s “studied this a million ways upside down,” as he explained, “The president conveniently forgot about the Payne-Aldrich Act of 1910. He ignored the Fordney-McCumber Act of 1930. He went straight through Smoot-Hawley.”

“And then he gets to this nirvana where billions of dollars are gonna come in. Where does he think these billions are coming from?!” Quest angrily asked.

The editor-at-large of CNN Business further stated that money is coming from “importers. Importers will pay because they get something known as a customs schedule when the goods come off the boat. And that is an invoice.”

“And the importer pays, and the importer passes it to the wholesaler. The wholesaler passes it to the distributor. The distributor – get your wallet out – passes it to you,” Quest added.

Netizens say 'Trump intentionally crashing the economy'

Meanwhile, people online have shared their thoughts over Richard Quest’s comments.

A person on X commented, “Quest is a complete moron, just another brainwashed puppet spitting out leftist talking points. The guy can’t even grasp basic economics — acting shocked that tariffs impact importers when the whole point is to shift the balance. Typical nonsense from someone who has no clue outside the CNN bubble.”

Another person shared, “Trump has to be intentionally crashing the economy. Nothing else makes sense.”

The third one wrote, “Trump is the biggest dumb*** ever. If Russia wanted to destroy America this is how they would do it. MAGA enjoy liberation day idiots!”

“He believes billions come from tariffs, but importers actually pay,” a tweet read.

Another tweet said, “Meaning they're coming from end consumers which is very hard for him to grasp because hasn't paid a single dime for anything in his entire life.”

“Trump talks about billions ‘pouring in’ from tariffs like they’re magic money. Spoiler: it’s you 🫵, the importer, the consumer footing the bill,” a user added.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online