Republican presidential candidate, former Vice President Mike Pence speaks on the Pray Vote Stand Summit on the Omni Shoreham Hotel on September 15, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday dumped on Donald Trump’s plan to slap a universal 10% tariff on imported goods if he’s reelected in 2024, slamming the thought as a “middle-class tax increase.”
An across-the-board tariff just like the one Trump has proposed would worsen inflation and “reward adversaries like China,” Pence’s GOP presidential campaign said in an unusually sharp one-page memo.
The memo takes direct aim at Trump, Pence’s former boss and the present front-runner within the Republican presidential primary, while attempting to attract a line between Trump’s current agenda and the one enacted after they each occupied the White House.
“With regards to leadership on the earth, we stood strong with our allies and stood as much as our enemies,” Pence said in a press release accompanying the memo.
“He and his imitators on this race are backing away from American leadership,” Pence said.
The campaign document cited an evaluation by the nonprofit Tax Foundation that found Trump’s proposal would raise taxes on American consumers by greater than $300 billion a yr and eliminate greater than 500,000 full-time jobs.
The shot at Trump may offer a preview of how Pence and his campaign will approach the second primary debate, which is ready for Wednesday on the Reagan presidential library in California.
Trump skipped the primary debate last month, but he nevertheless stole much of the evening’s attention. This time around the previous president is planning to counterprogram the talk by traveling to Detroit and delivering a speech to current and former union employees.
Trump had called for a “ring across the collar” as he floated a ten% tariff during an interview last month with Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow, his former White House economic advisor.
“It’s an enormous sum of money,” Trump said. “It isn’t going to stop business because it isn’t that much,” he claimed, “nevertheless it’s enough that we actually make numerous money.”
But Pence’s campaign said that by “haphazardly” raising the price of all imports, the tariff plan would raise prices that will disproportionately hurt poor and middle-class Americans the toughest.
The plan can be “flawed foreign policy that will punish our allies and reward adversaries like China” by reducing the impact of existing tariffs on Beijing, the campaign said.
“Trump’s plan would indiscriminately weaken our allies around the globe with random economic sanctions while isolating our enemies,” the memo said.
