'Don't hold your breath': Business expert scoffs at Trump's economic promises

President Donald Trump’s new set of tariffs are set to roll out on Wednesday, but their impact is already being felt, according to Business Insider’s Ben Bergman, who threw cold water on the idea that the plan will spring the economy.

“You know, President Trump was elected for many reasons, but one of the main reasons was because he promised to bring prices down, but he's very much doing the opposite of that,” Bergman said Monday.

The grim assessment came during an interview on CNN, where the senior correspondent took issue with comments White House trade adviser Peter Navarro made – and challenged his numbers.

“I think a lot of people were struck by Peter Navarro, who's one of Trump's top trade advisers. He said recently that these tariffs were going to bring in $6 trillion to the administration. But where is that $6 trillion going to come from? It's going to come from American consumers’ pocketbooks," Bergman said.

“The math just doesn't pencil out at least any time soon,” he added to Navarro’s claim that the $6 trillion would amount to a "tax cut" for Americans. “It’s a nice idea, but we've never seen tariffs successfully work like that,” Bergman said.

ALSO READ:'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

He also scoffed at Trump’s theory that the tariffs would spur manufacturing jobs in the United States.

“Don't hold your breath,” Bergman told CNN viewers. “The problem with these things is it takes a very long time."

Bergman added Monday that GDP growth has been slashed “to about 0.4%,” while economists warn of a 25% chance of a recession – “these are all because of the tariffs.”

“The impact has been a lot of uncertainty, and you need look no further than the stock market because I think there was a short time last week when investors were hoping that he would scale back the tariffs,” Bergman said. “The opposite has happened.”

Watch the clip below or at this link: