CNN host spars with GOP rep over Trump tariffs, Harris corporate tax hike

CNN host Sara Sidner sparred with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) over former President Trump’s plan to increase tariffs and Vice President Harris’s plan to raise the corporate tax rate in a Thursday interview.

In the heated exchange, Lawler gave a fierce defense of Trump’s tariffs and railed against Harris’s plan to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 — which Sidner noted is lower than what President Biden had proposed.

“Donald Trump basically broke Iran in his first administration. Why? Because he threatened tariffs on Chinese goods if they purchased Iranian petroleum. So, guess what President Xi did? He didn't purchase Iranian petroleum. So, Iran was broke, OK? And so that's where tariffs can be effective,” Lawler told Sidner in an interview.

He targeted Harris’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate, saying, “You want to see the fastest way for companies to move manufacturing back overseas? It's to do that. That would be disastrous for the economy.”

When Sidner noted Harris’s proposal is lower than Biden’s, Lawler shot back, “But you think 28 percent is good?”

“A lot of Americans pay 28 percent,” Sidner said, speaking over Lawler.

“It will cripple our economy,” he said, before railing against increased spending and saying, “Kamala Harris's policies will put us into a recession. There's no question about that.”

Lawler and Sidner clashed over the extent to which economists have criticized Trump’s tariff proposal, as Lawler pressed Sidner to cite specific criticism and the conversation grew increasingly heated.

“That is disputed by economists who say that Donald Trump's plan with — particularly with the tariffs, could be a huge tax on consumers,” Sidner said in response to Lawler’s mention of a recession.

“So, do you dispute every economist who has come out and said that this is going to make it more difficult for people to afford the things that are imported by China and elsewhere? That is what the economists are saying,” Sidner said, after Lawler gave a defense of tariffs as a “tool to force countries, like China, not to purchase Iranian petroleum.”

“Every economist? Please, cite me a few. Please cite me a few. Who's every economist? Here — here's the reality, tax hikes,” Lawler said.

The two spoke over each other, as Sidner cited Moody’s Analytics’s chief economist, Mark Zandi, who called tariffs a “very bad idea” and said, according to CNN, “If there is anything that most economists can agree on, it’s that tariffs are bad.”

Lawler dismissed the criticism and suggested it was not as widespread as Sidner made it seem.

“Don't just pick and choose one little thing and quote some anonymous economists here,” he said.

“They're not anonymous,” Sidner said, cutting him off.

She noted Goldman Sachs raised concerns about Trump’s tax policies as well, warning Trump’s tariffs would cause the economy to shrink. Goldman Sachs predicted Harris’s policies would grow the economy.

“I mean, I'm not just making this up,” she said. “Look at all of the headlines and look at the companies that have come out with their head economists saying the same thing, right?”

Lawler returned to Harris’s policies.

“Increasing the corporate tax rate is going to have a more profound impact on the economy, OK?” he said.

Harris proposed her 28-percent capital gains tax for those with $1 million or more in income during a campaign speech Wednesday in New Hampshire. That’s up from its current effective level of 23.6 percent.

Harris’s proposal represents a break from Biden, who proposed a 44.6 percent rate in his budget update in July. Harris’s smaller tax hike proposal is a signal that she is trying to move toward the political center and, perhaps, differentiate herself from the policies of the Biden administration.

Trump spoke Thursday to the Economic Club of New York and outlined his economic agenda, signaling a potential second term would look much like his first when it comes to tax policy and tariffs.

He said he would push to extend the individual tax cuts enacted in 2017 that are set to expire in 2025. He also said he would push to lower the corporate tax rate even further than the 2017 law did, from 21 percent to 15 percent. He also outlined his plan to use tariffs aggressively to target companies that outsource jobs or do not manufacture products domestically.