Former Trump Cabinet Official Explains Why Trump Loves Tariffs: ‘It’s Personal Power’

Former Interior Secretary Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) explains why the president is pursuing a trade protection agenda Republicans don’t like.

Why is President Donald Trump on the verge of imposing higher taxes on businesses that import foreign goods, going against many in his own party and potentially increasing consumer prices?

Because he can.

Take it from Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who served as Trump’s secretary of the Interior for nearly two years during his first term.

“Tariffs are a tool the president enjoys because it’s personal power,” Zinke told HuffPost. “It’s personal ― he doesn’t have to go through Congress. He can exercise personal power.”

Trump has decreed that Wednesday, April 2, will be “Liberation Day” as he imposes tariffs, or taxes on imported goods, from nearly all U.S. trading partners. Economists have warned that the tariffs could spike prices for consumer products, the stock market has slipped and consumer sentiment has cratered in anticipation of the levies.

In Trump’s telling, the taxes imposed on businesses importing products, which the businesses can recover by charging higher prices to U.S. consumers for those products, are actually paid by foreign countries.

“It’s a liberation day for our country because we’re going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries, including friend and foe,” Trump said last month.

The Constitution gives Congress power over taxes and tariffs, but lawmakers have essentially ceded that power to the White House. Trump has already used what are supposed to be “emergency” powers to slap tariffs and imports from Canada and Mexico, declaring an emergency of “unchecked drug trafficking” from those countries.

Lawmakers could revoke the president’s emergency authority, per provisions in the law Trump used to impose the tariffs, but the House of Representatives changed its rules to prevent a vote stopping Trump’s use of the law this year. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday said Americans should trust the president because he had a good economy in his first term.

“You have to trust the president’s instincts on the economy,” Johnson said at a press conference. “This isn’t blind faith. Remember what he accomplished in the first administration, before COVID, we had the greatest economy in history.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic came to the U.S., the unemployment rate briefly spiked to 14.8% in April 2020, prompting Congress to enact massive relief packages that may have contributed to inflation that has persisted to this day.

Because tariffs could increase prices, economists have warned that Trump’s trade agenda could make inflation worse. Trump and others in his administration have said it’s worth it.

“I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American cars,” Trump said Saturday in reference to his tariffs on imported cars and parts.

Like a lot of rank-and-file Republicans in Congress, Zinke is not celebrating “Liberation Day,” explaining that Montana industries could be negatively affected and that he hopes Trump is merely using the tariffs to obtain more favorable terms from trading partners.

“I am hoping this is short-term, and with President Trump, he throws a lot out there. That’s his modus operandi,” Zinke said.

Zinke, one of the first-term cabinet officials who remained on good terms with Trump, even as he resigned amid mounting criticism from outside the administration, said he was sympathetic to the goal of encouraging companies to manufacture inside the U.S. ― but he warned that the short-term disruptions could hurt people, including car dealers in his district.

“You got parts guys out there,” Zinke said. “You got salesmen out there. You got all these guys that work in this industry that probably will be harmed.”