Former Trump economic advisor: tariffs are 'highly regressive,' will impact lower class

Source: The Hill

04/27/25 12:37 PM ET


Gary Cohn, a former Trump administration economic advisor, said the president’s tariffs will be “highly regressive” and hurt the lower class the most.

Cohn joined CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, just after President Trump posted online that once tariffs cut in, many people who make less than $200,000 annually will see their income taxes “substantially reduced” or eliminated.

“The other thing we need to understand about tariffs, and I think this is obvious, is tariffs are highly regressive, meaning that poorer people end up paying a disproportionate percentage of the tariffs because they spend 100 percent of their paycheck on goods,” Cohn said.

Cohn, who left the Trump administration in 2018 and now is vice chair of IBM, highlighted how lower-class Americans will use a large portion or all of their paycheck to purchase goods, many of which will have increased prices due to Trump’s tariffs. “Wealthier people save a bigger percentage of their paycheck,” he said. “So, the tariffs are going to affect the poor people more.”


Read more: https://thehill.com/business/5269962-former-trump-economic-advisor-tariffs-impact-lower-class/