The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal bashed what they describe as President Donald Trump's latest "Hail Mary" to voters in a new editorial published on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Trump floated the idea of sending $2,000 tariff rebate checks to most Americans. He made the announcement at a time when the Supreme Court is considering whether the president has the authority to impose tariffs without Congress's approval, and reports indicate that Trump's lawyers are having a hard time defending the policy in court.
Trump also said that people who don't agree with his tariff policies are "fools."
The Wall Street Journal's editorial board argued that Trump's idea was awash in "contradictions."
"President Trump has a big tariff problem: His border taxes are raising prices on tariffed goods, they’re unpopular with voters, and the Supreme Court might rule that his 'emergency' tariffs are illegal," the editorial reads. "His latest response: Promise voters a $2,000 tariff rebate."
"Mr. Trump is essentially promising to repay Americans $2,000 of the border taxes they’re paying in higher prices," they wrote. "But if tariffs are a free economic lunch, and their benefits abound, why offer a rebate? Shouldn’t voters be thrilled about tariffs even without a rebate?"
"Mr. Trump is trying to exploit the fact that the tariff impact is dispersed across the economy so consumers have a hard time sorting out how much those taxes contribute to which higher prices," they added. "They do know, however, that they’re paying more than they used to. This is why the election exit polls last week showed people broadly disapprove of Mr. Trump’s handling of inflation and the economy."
The editors also offered Trump some advice for the future.
"Mr. Trump is trying to dull the public’s tariff pain with direct payments that he can take credit for," the editorial reads. "This is a new version of the age-old income redistribution game of taxing people too much but then trying to appease them with tax credits or one-time cash payments. Democrats do this all the time with child tax credits and other favors to special-interest groups."
