BURSTEconomist and Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Thursday noted how many of the most dire predictions about President Trump's tariffs have not come to fruition, as new rates on dozens of countries took effect.
“All the gloom and doom, tariff inflation, tariff recession, tariff catastrophe, none of that has happened, OK? And in fact, as you noted earlier, the tariff revenues are pouring in,” Kudlow said during a Thursday appearance on Fox News.
“He [President Trump] could do as much as $400 billion this year alone in tariff revenues, imports from China, or let's say Chinese exports to the United States are at their lowest point in over 20 years,” added Kudlow, who served in Trump's first administration.
In recent weeks, the president has announced deals with the European Union, Japan, United Kingdom and Vietnam — however higher rates on many other countries without deals took effect at midnight Wednesday.
Some analysts predicted Trump's tariff war would torpedo stock markets and deflate U.S. business growth, but Kudlow said the nation has seen the opposite effect.
“Our trade deficit through June is at its lowest point in the last two years. These are all positives,” Kudlow, former director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News.
Kudlow said adjusted trade rates are a sign of the White House’s success in navigating negotiations.
“People have been taking advantage of the United States and that's coming to an end. Now, instead of warfare, you know, instead of retaliation or the so-called world tariff war, no, it's dealmaking,” he added.
The U.S. nearly $100 billion in tariff revenue from January to June this year, according to trade data analyzed by the Peterson Institute.
Yale's Budget Lab has estimated that all new tariffs in 2025 would raise $2.7 trillion from 2026 to 2035, but says the policy will make the U.S. economy about 0.4 percent smaller in the long run.
Stocks slipped on Thursday as new tariffs kicked in, but remain near all-time highs.