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President-elect Donald Trump, in an NBC News interview that aired on Sunday, said he doesn't "believe" his tariff proposal will raise consumer prices for American families but stopped short of making a promise.
"I can't guarantee anything," Trump told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker in his first major network television interview since the November general election. "I can't guarantee tomorrow."
Trump then said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, he placed tariffs "on a lot of different countries."
"We took in hundreds of billions of dollars and we had no inflation," the president-elect told Welker. "In fact, when I handed it over, they didn't have inflation for a year and a half."
Trump in November floated 25% tariffs on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico, the top three trading partners of the United States. The president-elect has criticized what he says is the free flow of drugs and illegal migrants into the United States from the three countries.
Late last month, Trump also threatened economic sanctions against the BRICS group, a bloc of nine emerging market countries. He said he would institute "100% tariffs" if they sought to "move away" from the US dollar.
Trump, while on NBC, reiterated that he's a "big believer in tariffs" — calling them "beautiful" — and said the United States is subsidizing Canada and Mexico.
"If we're going to subsidize them, let them become a state," the president-elect said. "We're subsidizing Mexico, and we're subsidizing Canada, and we're subsidizing many countries all over the world. And all I want to do is have a level, fast, but fair playing field."
Late last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada traveled to Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump after his tariff threats. Trudeau later said he had an "excellent conversation" with the president-elect.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also described her recent conversation with Trump as "excellent," stating that the two discussed her country's plans for migration.
The economy was a top issue for voters in the November election, with Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris largely due to dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden's handling of inflation. Harris sought to define her economic plan — zeroing in on price gouging and tackling housing affordability — but she could not reverse Trump's advantage on the issue.
Across the United States, Trump cut into traditional Democratic advantages with working-class voters and minority groups, with many siding with him at the ballot box over his focus on inflation.
