Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul Criticizes Tariffs As “Simply Taxes,” Warns Of Economic Harm

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul voiced his opposition to tariffs, calling them “simply taxes” that harm American consumers and businesses.

The Republican senator made the remarks during an interview on Fox News Tuesday, where he pushed back against the Trump administration’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tool, despite acknowledging their short-term effectiveness in securing concessions from Mexico and Canada.

“Tariffs are simply taxes,” Paul said. “Conservatives are united against new taxes. Taxing trade will mean less trade and higher prices. Anything that increases the cost of a good will ultimately increase its price for the consumer.”

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Paul argued that while tariffs may serve as a negotiating tactic, their long-term economic consequences are detrimental. He pointed to the impact of previous tariffs on American farmers, particularly during Trump’s first term when tariffs on Chinese goods led to a decline in agricultural exports and necessitated federal bailouts for affected farmers.

“When we put tariffs on China, China quit buying as much of our agricultural goods, and our farmers suffered,” Paul said. “There are still people in Washington today wanting to subsidize them for the harm they felt from tariffs. The best way to look at tariffs is the seen and the unseen. You can see the steelworkers you might help, but you don’t see the 80 workers who buy steel for every one worker making steel that suffers from higher prices.”

Paul also criticized the notion that opposing tariffs equates to supporting the fentanyl trade, a claim made by former Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro. Navarro had argued that critics of tariffs were “dishonoring the men and women and children who have died at the hands of Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian fentanyl coming across our borders.”

“It’s kind of a ridiculous statement to say that people who are against tariffs are for the fentanyl trade,” Paul responded. “That’s just not true. We can and should do more to stop the fentanyl trade from Mexico and Canada.”

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Despite his criticism of tariffs as an economic policy, Paul acknowledged that Trump’s use of tariff threats had yielded some positive results in recent negotiations. Mexico agreed to deploy 10,000 troops to its northern border to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking, while Canada pledged to increase border security spending and crack down on cross-border crime.

“Even though I’m not a big fan of tariffs, I think he actually did have a successful negotiation,” Paul said. “He’s gotten the lawless part of Mexico to promise to send troops up there. That is a huge win. If they have troops on their side and we have troops on our side, we can take what is a lawless area and hopefully bring law and order to that area.”

Paul emphasized that while he supports Trump’s efforts to secure the border and combat drug trafficking, he hopes the administration will avoid enacting tariffs that could harm American consumers. “I just hope we can stop with the victory and not put in place a tax that is not beneficial to the American consumer,” he said.

Paul also highlighted the potential impact of tariffs on key industries in his home state of Kentucky, including bourbon production and automotive manufacturing. He noted that previous tariffs had already hurt Kentucky’s bourbon industry, with European countries retaliating by imposing higher tariffs on American whiskey.

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“We are still suffering from some of the effects in the bourbon industry from the last go-round of tariffs,” Paul said. “Europe responded to those tariffs and raised tariffs on bourbon, which affected our international sales. We also make a lot of cars in Kentucky, and the price of steel going up hurts car manufacturers.”

Paul added that nearly all major industries in Kentucky have expressed opposition to tariffs, citing concerns about higher costs and reduced competitiveness in global markets.

“Tariffs as an economic policy are a disaster for the consumer,” Paul said. “The average price that the consumer will pay is about a thousand dollars more. Every American will be a thousand dollars less rich because of these tariffs. We need to focus on policies that benefit all Americans, not just a select few.”

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