Fox Business correspondent: “Let's be real clear here. Tariffs cost. They're a tax. That tax often gets passed on to consumers.”
Fox's Charles Gasparino admits Trump's trade deal with the European Union is “a tax increase on US consumers”
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From the July 28, 2025, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
CHARLES GASPARINO (FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT): The stuff that they're buying from us, they probably would have bought anyway, Brian, to be real honest with you. They're cutting back on Russian natural gas, obviously for a lot of reasons. They're building out their military because of Russian expansionism. So that -- they were going to do that anyway. And when you say we get 15%, true, but that means U.S. consumers are paying 15% more too. So, it's kind of like a tax increase on U.S. consumers. That's one way to look at this.
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GASPARINO: You do have to ask yourself, Brian, why the sort of rush to get a deal like this done. I mean again, not a lot of details, they didn't agree to that much for us.
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BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): What about this? Fifty percent tariff on EU steel and aluminum. The big picture there, how is that going to affect all of us?
GASPARINO: Well, it's going to — theoretically, if we need to buy steel from them, it's going to cost us more. Again, Brian, to kind of put this in context: Every penny we get from them is being passed to the U.S. consumer. So, remember that.
KILMEADE: Not necessarily, right, it's got to be the choice.
[CROSSTALK]
GASPARINO: Oh yes, necessarily. [CROSSTALK] Some companies will eat it for now.
KILMEADE: And they have so far.
GASPARINO: So far, but remember, companies don't report to the president. They report to shareholders and they have a fiduciary responsibility for profit margins. And at some point — and that point is coming. I mean, you can see it. There are avid price increases on certain goods. I mean, there's no doubt.
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GASPARINO: Let's be real clear here. Tariffs cost. They're a tax. That tax often gets passed on to consumers.
KILMEADE: Right. Unless they want to make it here, and that's also a goal.