GREENSBORO, N.C. — 2 Wants to Know wants you to have the most accurate information as you head to the polls this election. Ben Briscoe recently fact checked Republican Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance after his visit to Greensboro. Now Ben is digging into claims made by the Democratic Nominee Governor Tim Walz.
"Every economist and every business person in the world recognizes Donald Trump's tariff policies will be a 20 percent addition to your taxes adding about $4,000 cost to each and every one of you," Walz said at a stop in Arizona.
Right away, parts of this quote are not true. Not every economist and every business person says Trump's tariff policy will cost you more, but there are several leading economists who say Trump's plan to impose higher taxes on imported goods will cost you more.
For example the nonpartisan Tax Foundation says Trump's plan would increase taxes by $524 billion dollars. On average that's about $4,000 per household in America. Plus the group says Trump's plan would actually shrink the gross domestic product the amount of goods and services produced by the US. That would lead to a loss of about 684,000 American jobs. The report adds, "Our estimates do not capture the effects of retaliation, nor the additional harms that would stem from starting a global trade war."
Forbes is also reporting that the mega global investment firm UBS predicts if the tariffs are put in place, the S&P 500 would fall by more than 11 percent hurting people's retirement accounts.
Trump has acknowledged the tariffs would initially be tough on Americans, but he believes long term they will help bring back more American manufacturing.
"North Carolina was once the beating heart of American manufacturing," Trump said. "I know very well, I'd come to buy furniture for buildings. So much of that business has been stolen from you and it's made in China and other places."
To give you a sense of what the tariffs would look like, Trump wants a 100 percent tax on foreign cars. That means on a $20,000 foreign car the price of the car with a tariff would go from $20,500 now to $40,000 dollars under Trump.
Here's the Mint Hill, North Carolina speech where Trump made remarks about his tariff plan: