Economist Oren Cass told Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson on Friday that he believes the Trump administration’s guidance on tariffs could lead to strong allies for the United States and more free trade.
Negotiations with a handful of countries have been underway since President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs, hitting some countries, like China, higher than the 10% baseline due to their tariffs against the U.S. While discussing the potential effects of Trump’s economic policies, Carlson asked Cass how he believes “the tariff story” will end.
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“I think the best way to understand what’s going on is to think about this kind of world order that we’ve been talking about a bunch. And recognize that what we are going through is a transition out of the U.S. as sole superpower to, I guess you would call it a multipolar world where China is a kind of peer, competitor and adversary,” Cass said.
“We’re seeing in real time how it breaks down, how you can’t just be the benevolent open market when China is now bigger than you and more technologically advanced in some ways. It can’t go on that way,” Cass added. “So I think the tariffs are the sort of tip of the spear of saying that system is over. What do we want to have replace it? And I think what the United States should want, and what I see the administration pointing toward and pushing toward, is basically, look, we still want to have strong allies. We still want to have free trade among our allies.”
Shortly after Trump’s ‘Liberation Day,’ the president announced a 90-day pause on tariffs — except for those against China — opening up trade talks with other countries. The U.S. and China entered a tariff war, leading to the U.S. slapping China with a 145% tariff. Discussions officially began May 10.
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Cass went on to say that what the U.S. is doing with tariffs is ending the “open season” where “everyone does whatever they want and unconditionally gets benefits of American defense [and the] American market.” Wanting to build “strong alliances and relationships and low tariffs,” Cass said there are “now conditions,” with the first being “balanced trade.”
“Piece number two, on the defense side, everybody needs to pull their own weight and actually lead in their own areas. You want to deter Russia, Germany? Go figure out what you need to do to deter Russia. You want to deter China, Japan? Go figure out what you need to do. Don’t be looking over your shoulder, sort of, ‘Have I done enough homework to go outside and play?’ Actually get it done,” Cass said.
In addition to Trump’s tariffs, the president spent the week in the Middle East, signing a deal for at least $600 billion in investments with Saudi Arabia and securing over $3 trillion in new investments with the United Arab Emirates.
Cass said that the third piece of his outlook centers on removing China from U.S. supply chains, adding this is why Trump first called out Mexico and Canada on trade.
“Then piece three is China is out. More like in the Cold War system, you can’t have these sort of entangled systems where, OK, the U.S. doesn’t want Chinese supply chains, so they just go set up in Mexico and it comes in through Mexico. This is actually, I think, why Trump started the way he did with Mexico and Canada. Mexico and Canada with the U.S., you should be the core of this alliance we’re talking about,” Cass said.
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“But you need to understand that it can’t work the way it’s been working. It’s going to have to work on these terms,” Cass added. “So you see someone like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent specifically saying ‘Mexico, we need to see the same tariffs toward China that we’re putting toward China. Canada, we need to see that same policy because it can’t be a sort of screen door.’”
While some have doubted Trump’s economic policies and push for tariffs — pointing to the fluctuating market that followed the announcement — others are predicting the outcome could significantly benefit the United States.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
