- Barry Diller said to give Trump’s tariffs “a little good spirit,” though he thinks “it’s going to end in tears.”
- “I like big gambles,” he said. “Maybe you can pull it off. Maybe manufacturing can come back.
- The Budget Lab at Yale warns that tariffs won’t offset the GOP’s proposed tax cut bill.
Barry Diller thinks that President Donald Trump’s tariffs should be allowed to come to pass.
“I think it’s going to end in tears,” the Hollywood mogul and IAC chairman said of Trump’s tariff during Monday’s episode of the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast.
“But you know what?” the 83-year-old billionaire continued. “It’s a big gamble. I like big gambles. Maybe you can pull it off. Maybe manufacturing can come back. Maybe it can end taxes for people where you just simply get money from others.”
“Don’t be in this derangement syndrome, and let’s see giving it a little good spirit rather than a violent negative spirit — and that’s my attitude right now,” Diller added.
Trump’s broad-reaching tariffs have met challenges thus far, and he has paused some of the highest levies. Business leaders, even those who have openly supported him, have expressed concerns about their economic impacts, and stocks tumbled when the tariffs were announced.
The Budget Lab at Yale recently said in a report that the income reaped from tariffs won’t come close to offsetting the Republicans’ proposed tax cuts, which could pass given their majority in Congress and may cost the country $3.4 trillion over the next 9 years.
“If we account for the likelihood that these provisions would become permanent, at the end of 30 years the debt-to-GDP ratio would be over 180%, even assuming substantial revenue from tariffs,” the non-partisan policy research group wrote. “For context, the only countries with a higher debt-to-GDP ratio currently are Japan and the Sudan.”
In a separate report on May 12, the Budget Lab at Yale found that Trump’s tariffs would cost the average American household a loss of $2,800 per household on average in 2024 dollars in purchasing power.
Higher tariffs on 75 trading partners imposed on April 2 were suspended for 90 days starting on April 9. Tariffs on China were temporarily lifted for 90 days on May 14 to negotiate a broader trade agreement.
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