BURSTDemocratic strategist James Carville said he believes President Trump’s tariffs are not motivated by policy but instead just represent the president's "ego playing itself out in public."
Carville joined MSNBC on Tuesday, a day before Trump’s declared “Liberation Day,” when the president planned to announce reciprocal tariffs on various countries.
Host Ari Melber asked Carville if the tariffs are really just going to be a tax on working people in the United States.
“They’re just Trump going power mad, and he figures, 'I don’t have to get approval from Congress, I don’t need to bring it to the Cabinet, I can just do this,'" Carville replied. “And so the idea that he can just do something on his own unilaterally has great appeal to him.”
Carville noted that Trump will likely receive a number of calls from countries looking to be exempt from the tariffs.
“He loves having foreign people call and say, ‘Hey can you exempt … Finnish steel from these tariffs?'” the strategist said. “It’s all just a play. There’s no policy behind it.”
“It’s just his ego playing itself out in public, and it’s going to hurt a ton of people that you can’t imagine,” Carville added.
Trump has reportedly been deciding between imposing a broad tariff on imports and choosing certain countries to subject to specific import taxes.
If he chooses the latter approach, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested the impacted countries could include those responsible for the most trade with the U.S. An analysis from CNBC determined these countries would likely include China, the European Union, Mexico, Vietnam, Ireland, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, Thailand, Italy, Switzerland and several more.
Trump has previously announced, imposed and then walked back some tariffs in both of his terms to gain leverage with foreign leaders.
Leaders in industry and foreign countries have already appealed to the president for exemptions.
For example, the heads of U.S. auto companies asked Trump to spare their industry from the tariffs, and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer asked Trump to exempt his country.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.