Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made a rare move on Fox Business Thursday by flat out rejecting host Larry Kudlow’s pro-Trump spin. Cruz, known for his support of President Trump, made it clear that he is against tariffs and wants them removed quickly.
During the segment, Kudlow, a former Trump economic advisor, suggested that the revenue from tariffs could be given back to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts.
“Now on the tax cuts, I don’t know if you heard any of this show. Because of Mr. Trump’s reciprocity policy that he announced yesterday, the White House is saying there could be $600 billion in revenues from the tariffs, Kudlow explained.
He added: “I am proposing that those revenues be put into the budget resolution and the reconciliation bill and that you cut taxes even more to help the middle class who have been shouldering the burden of falling real wages for about 25 years because of unfair and unjust trading practices. If you have $600 billion, Senator, those are the estimates. I mean, out 10 years is a gigantic number. We need a fresh, we need, you need tax cuts, middle-class tax cuts. Corporate tax cuts? I mean, I’m calling it a tariff dividend for taxpayers. What do you think? I want you to carry this ball for me.”
Cruz responded firmly, “So Larry, you know I’m always in favor of more tax cuts and bigger tax cuts, and I’m fighting to make this tax cut as big and bold as possible. Look, I think it is a mistake to assume that we will have high tariffs in perpetuity. I don’t think that would be good economic policy. I am not a fan of tariffs.”
Cruz went on to explain that while he didn’t know what would happen next, he hoped the situation would lead to lower tariffs across the globe.
“And the announcement yesterday, look, time is going to tell in the next month or two or three what happens if the result of yesterday’s announcement is a lot of our trading partners across the globe dramatically reduce the tariffs they charge on U.S. goods and services, and the consequence of that is the U.S. government dramatically cuts the tariffs that were announced yesterday. That would be a great outcome. That would be good for America,” he said.
However, Cruz made it clear that tariffs would hurt Americans, calling it “a tax on consumers.”
“That would be a bad outcome for America, tariffs are a tax on consumers and I’m not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers,” he said. “So my hope is these tariffs are short lived and they serve as leverage to lower tariffs across the globe.”
Kudlow tried to push back, saying, “So you don’t want to put any more money, you don’t want to hand any money over to the consumers. The workforce has been hurt by these unfair trading practices.”
Cruz didn’t back down, responding, “Cut taxes, cut taxes, I agree with you. I don’t know that you could get too aggressive for me in cutting taxes. I just don’t want to simultaneously embrace raising taxes on consumers. And so I like half of your idea, but not necessarily the other half.”
Kudlow conceded, “All right, half ain’t bad.”
Watch the exchange in the clip below from Fox News:
Cruz: Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I'm not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers. pic.twitter.com/4H2A5kdHp7
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 3, 2025
