Team,
Check out my Tax Day interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
Millions of Americans are getting a tax refund that, cumulatively, is the largest in American history. We are taking care of blue-collar workers who work a lot of overtime. We are taking care of service workers with no tax on tips. We are taking care of seniors. Americans understand that this tax cut is for them.
I look forward to your comments. Please share this far and wide.
Peter
TRANSCRIPT
LARRY KUDLOW: All right, with great pleasure, let’s bring in Peter Navarro, my old pal, White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing. Peter, great to see you. And I’m reading “For Middle and Working Classes, This Tax Day is Like Christmas.” I love that. There’s a lot of good numbers, and Ted Cruz gave us even some more. The problem Peter, is worries me, the tip poll, which is a good poll, a lot of people don’t seem to know just how big this tax cut is, especially, you know, for the kitchen table middle class. What do we do about it?
DR. NAVARRO: Larry, it must be a great day for you. This is probably the happiest day since April 15th in 1982, the year after the Reagan thing kicked in. And I know you were a big part of all that. Here’s the thing: when the Big Beautiful Bill was initially passed, we just got hammered. The legacy media jumped all over us, and the Dems jumped all over us, and it was all spin, and the American people really, let’s be honest, the polling was not good. They thought it was everything the spin said it was, which it was not. Now, today we have the difference between spin and life experience, which is to say, Larry, when millions upon millions of Americans are getting a tax refund that cumulatively is the biggest one in American history, they understand that this tax cut is for them and seniors. We took care of them. The blue-collar manufacturing folks who do a lot of overtime, we took care of them, the service workers with no tax on tips, we took care of them. I don’t know if you saw this, Larry, we had DoorDash Grandma here yesterday.
KUDLOW: I know. We covered it.
DR. NAVARRO: I mean, it’s like – and the politics in some sense are just as important as the economics, Larry, because we’ve turned what has been a liability because of spin and no shared experience, real experience, into today a celebration of how this works. And, by the way, capital wins here too. Not just labor. But we have capital win because it’s good for the country and good for labor. The incentives, Larry, the incredible incentives, things like you and I worked on in the first term of getting manufacturing here on U.S. soil with a hundred percent expensing of factories. And then, of course, dare I say, the tax break people get for buying American cars helps Detroit. So, this is not the usual April 15th. I mean, let’s be honest, April 15th is probably one of the worst days every year. It’s like a day of mourning, Larry, when the American people kind of bid adieu to like a good part of their hard-earned earnings, and off it goes to Uncle Sam. Not this year because of President Trump.
KUDLOW: No, that’s a really important point that people are going to make money this year instead of lose money. And, you know, I think you and Kevin [Hassett] and Scott [Bessent] and everybody have got to just go out and sell the heck out of it. That’s all. It’s a marketing issue. And, by the way, the other point you made is very important. There’s a factory building boom going on, and that includes construction workers, as well, and they’re working for higher wages. So, that’s part of this bill’s efficacy, and it’s also part of the trade policy. Now, let me ask you on trade: next week, you’re supposed to start paying refunds back, as I understand it. I wonder if you had a comment, how’s this going to work?
DR. NAVARRO: Everything’s going to be fine with that. It’s a mechanical issue and not my lane. USTR is taking care of that. Customs and Border Protection are taking that. But what you have to see, Larry, is the broader strategy here. We knew going in that we might lose in the court. We planned accordingly. The best thing about that court decision, Larry – best thing – was even though the court struck down IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act], it said everything else we were doing was just fine and dandy. And so, as we put the IEEPA tariffs in months and months and months ago, we also put in play all these other tariffs, the 232s, the 301s. Jamieson Greer, man, that guy is just great over at USTR. Howard Lutnick at Commerce on the 232s. These guys are executing in Trump time, and we’re going to be awash in tariff revenues, which, by the way, will be part of another tax bill I assume at some point to give that money back to the American people in the tax cut.
KUDLOW: Yes! Yes!
DR. NAVARRO: So get on that bandwagon, Larry. We need you to lead that.
KUDLOW: I’m pushing that. I’m pushing for it this year. I’m pushing for it this year. I had Thune on last night, and we talked to Cruz. I’m pushing for – I want one big, wide-bodied, beautiful bill that includes more tax cuts. And we’ll finance it, you know, waste, fraud, and abuse, and tariffs and whatever. Let’s be bold. Let’s be Navarro Republicans. How’s that? Bold, Navarro Republicans.
DR. NAVARRO: No, no, Trump Republicans. Always will be. I know my place. [Laughs]
KUDLOW: You look great, Peter. You look great, my friend. Thanks for coming back on.
DR. NAVARRO: Larry, I really appreciate it, buddy, and thanks for supporting me through the years, buddy. You know what I’m talking about.
KUDLOW: You bet. God bless. You betcha. God bless. All right, folks.
