Former President Donald Trump's agenda of higher tariffs on U.S. imports would help offset his expanding tax-cut proposals if he's reelected in November, according to his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
"If we actually balance this out by penalizing some of these companies for manufacturing overseas, I do think that we can get this to balance out in the right way, where we're not blowing a hole in the deficit, we're giving workers more of their money," Vance said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Trump has rolled out a series of tax plans over the last three months, seeking to appeal to a range of voter groups. He has proposed ending all taxes on tipped income and overtime work and on Social Security retirement benefits, raising questions among economists and political opponents about the impact on the U.S. budget deficit.
Asked on CBS whether fiscally conservative Republicans in Congress would go along, Vance said that "obviously Republicans believe American workers should keep more of their own money."
Trump has pledged to enact a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports, potentially targeting regions such as the European Union, and to increase duties on Chinese-made goods to 60% or more, saying that would generate trillions for the U.S. Most economists argue that Americans would ultimately pay higher costs and face reignited inflation.
Trump, the self-declared "tariff man," has described threats of higher duties on U.S. trading partners partly as a negotiating tactic to win concessions.
"I can't believe how many people are negative on tariffs that are actually smart," Trump said in a Bloomberg interview in June. "Man, is it good for negotiation."
Vance echoed that approach on Sunday.
"Sometimes you're gonna have to do higher tariffs, sometimes you might be able to do lower tariffs," he said. "You use that as part of the negotiation."
The Biden administration on Friday formally approved tariff increases on billions of dollars in Chinese goods, paving the way for most of them to go into effect in two weeks.
The office of the U.S. Trade Representative made a final determination on the proposed increases that President Joe Biden announced in May that include a 100% duty on electric vehicles, 50% on semiconductors and solar cells, and 25% on battery parts and many critical minerals.
Most of the increases take effect on Sept. 27, with those on computer chips next year, and natural graphite, a critical mineral for EV batteries, in 2026. The changes affect about $18 billion in annual U.S. imports.
The finalized tariffs are mostly unchanged from the proposal that Biden made to much fanfare at a public announcement at the White House in May. The USTR move -- mostly considered a formality -- had been repeatedly put off, delaying the date the tariffs go into effect. The determination marks the culmination of a review of so-called Section 301 tariffs imposed by Trump in 2018.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic candidate for the Nov. 5 election after Biden withdrew in July, in a debate on Tuesday called her opponent's proposal for higher duties a "Trump sales tax" that would raise prices for middle class families by thousands of dollars a year.
Trump countered by pointing out that the Biden administration left in place the duties that he imposed on China.