Right-wing host Eric Bolling dressed down White House spokesperson Harrison Fields and accused President Donald Trump of not understanding the formula his administration used to calculate his so-called reciprocal tariffs.
During a Thursday interview on Real America's Voice, Bolling told Fields he immediately knew something was wrong when Trump announced the tariffs last week.
"Within a couple hours of the announcement of the tariffs, and [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick brought out that big board with the numbers, and I was looking at it, and it just wasn't working for me," he recalled. "I know something's wrong with the numbers. I had figured out that the methodology to come up with the tariff that we were going to slap on other countries had nothing to do with an actual tariff."
"It had to do with our trade imbalance number divided by the amount of exports that country was putting into our country," the host continued. "I literally called the White House and said, guys, I figured this out. I need you guys to get in front of it before the left figures out and holds you accountable to it, and they did."
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Bolling argued that Trump did not understand the formula that was used to come up with the tariffs.
"I know they sent Trump out there without him even really knowing how that number was calculated that day," he told Fields.
The Trump aide pushed back, insisting that Trump was "in the driver's seat."
"He understands how these numbers work, and they're a reflection of not just the tariffs and the deficits," Fields said, "but also the other aspects of trade that have completely imbalanced the relationship, not just of recent history, but for long history."
