April 8, 2025 • 16 mins
The script challenges the common narrative that tariffs, particularly those imposed by President Trump, are detrimental to the economy and the poor. It argues that tariffs are often misconstrued as inflationary and harmful, while highlighting that other factors like wars, energy policies, mass migration, and social programs are more inflationary. The script asserts that tariffs are a strategic tool used by many countries and that they can encourage domestic production and reduce dependency on foreign goods. It criticizes global trade practices as inefficient and environmentally detrimental, and concludes that tariffs serve to protect American workers and industries without being unfair or unprecedented.
Commentary on trending issues brought to you with a moderate perspective.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
The Tenth Man (00:11):
They say tariffs are attacks on the poor.
They say Trump's trade policieswill crash the economy, but the
real threat to global trade isglobal trade itself.
Today on the 10th man.
The whole world is talking aboutTrump's tariffs, and almost
(00:33):
everything they're saying iswrong.
They say Trump is taxing thepoor.
They say tariffs causeinflation.
They say America is now anunreliable trade partner.
And they say it all with astraight face, but we're not
here to nod along withconventional wisdom, but to
challenge it.
So let's break this down.
(00:59):
Let's start with the tariffscause inflation claim.
It sounds plausible until youremember what inflation actually
is.
Inflation is when you pay moreand get nothing extra.
Your dollar buys less.
It's the price, wage, spiralcosts chase wages, wages, chase
prices and everything inflateslike a balloon.
(01:21):
Ready to pop.
Tariffs.
Don't do that.
If a tariff raises the price ofyour champagne or your BMW, it's
a one time bump, not a spiral.
And guess what?
You're still getting champagneand BMWs.
You are just paying a premiumfor the privilege import of
(01:42):
importing luxury.
Tariffs are not.
Inflationary wars are socialprograms are printing millions
for stimulus is inflationary.
Paying people not to work isinflationary, but a tariff, it's
a price signal.
(02:02):
It's saying, buy American or payup.
Let's look at some things thatare inflationary war.
When you take billions ofdollars of material and blow it
up on the battlefield, guesswhat?
That's not investment.
That's waste and waste causesinflation, guns or butter.
(02:26):
You can't have both.
Energy policy.
Biden said, no more drillingenergy prices spiked.
Natural gas makes fertilizer andfertilizer makes food.
Congratulations, you just madegroceries more expensive.
(02:46):
Mass migration, migrants consumeservices, but they don't build
homes.
They live in shelters.
You are producing less, butdemanding more as a society.
Inflationary riots and protests,those are not only unproductive,
(03:07):
they're destructive.
Burn a Tesla dealership, and nowwe all pay more for Teslas or
for insurance.
And every one of these examplesis a left wing policy.
Everyone is inflationary, andyet the left says tariffs are
the problem.
Are they outta their minds, butare tariffs unfair?
(03:33):
Well, let's ask the obviousquestion.
If tariffs are bad, why doesevery other country use them?
Europe slaps tariffs on ourbeef, our bourbon, our corn, our
ketchup, and even our Cheerios.
China doesn't believe in freetrade.
China believes in manipulation,subsidies, and stealing
(03:54):
intellectual property.
Obama used tariffs.
Biden kept Trump's tariffs.
Trump's just the first one tosay out loud, Hey, maybe America
should actually get something inreturn.
I.
In world trade and he campaignedon tariffs.
He won on tariffs.
(04:15):
He implemented tariffs, and nowthey act surprised he's bringing
them back.
Well, Europe and China, you hadfive months after the election
to prepare to make changes.
In negotiate.
You didn't, and that's not ourfault.
Retaliatory tariffs.
(04:35):
Hilarious.
Other countries now say they'llretaliate, raise prices on
American goods.
Okay, here's a fun fact.
You can't win a trade war withthe US because you don't have
the leverage.
We buy your stuff, but you don'tbuy ours.
We run the trade deficit, sothat gives us the upper hand.
(04:59):
We can stop buying, but youcan't stop selling.
And you can't slow down buyingthat.
You're not doing in the firstplace, retaliating against the
US when you're the exporterslike trying to hold your breath
until we give you oxygen.
Oh, and Canada, you're not CostaRica.
(05:22):
You don't grow bananas ororanges.
We grow the same things.
You do grain and timber and thenyou're threatening to cut off
electricity.
Electricity is not something youcan store.
You can't load it on a ship andexport it.
You generate it now and you needto sell it now or never.
(05:44):
And if we need it and can't getit from you, what happens?
Who's the unreliable partnerhere?
And if we don't buy it, who areyou gonna sell it to?
Unless you're a boomer or older,you probably don't remember red
pistachios.
All of our pistachio nuts aretan now, but let's go back to
(06:08):
the 1980s.
Back then, Iran controlled thepistachio market.
They dyed them red to coverimperfections.
Then along came the Iran hostagecrisis, and they cut us off from
their pistachios.
So what did we do?
We just started growing our own,and California pistachios took
(06:31):
over the market.
Today we export more pachiospistachios than Iran does.
And you can't even find a redpistachio here anymore.
Iran thought they had us, andinstead we replaced them.
So if France wants to taxbourbon or Europe blocks our
ketchup instead of settling, gofor it.
(06:53):
You're just gonna create yournext competitor.
'cause we can make our ownchampagne.
Don't make us prove it.
And not just luxury goodseither.
Tariffs on foreign cars mean alot of people are going to
switch to American cars.
Once they find out American carshave higher quality than they've
(07:16):
been told.
Good luck to you trying to getthose customers back.
Are tariffs attacks on the poor?
Not really.
Let's talk about this tax on thepoor argument.
Problem is in the US the poordon't pay income tax.
(07:39):
In fact, with the earned incomecredit, they often get money
back.
You've gotta make over$30,000 ayear to pay a dime in federal
income tax and tariffs are onlya tax if companies pass on the
cost and they don't have to.
Take Wal Walmart, for example.
They told their Chinesesuppliers, you're gonna eat the
(08:01):
tariff.
We're not raising prices.
And most of these things thatget tariffs, they're optional.
Nobody needs a Jaguar or Frenchchampagne or Mexican avocados
for that matter at her.
On the other hand, back inEurope and Canada, every wage
(08:22):
earner is taxed.
So the tariffs they charge onAmerican goods are gonna be just
piled on top of the existingtaxes they pay that are already
too high.
So tariffs are actually a tax onthe rich.
In reality, tariffs are morelike a tax on choice.
(08:44):
If you want the foreign car, theimported cheese, the fancy
French lipstick, you're gonnapay a little more, or you can
drive your Ford.
You can buy domestic.
You need Wisconsin cheddar,you're not gonna suffer.
You might even save moneybecause tariffs here aren't
mandatory.
(09:05):
Inflation is mandatory, andthat's the difference.
And if American companies stepup, you create jobs along with
those markets, the foreignersmay never get back.
You know, Democrats are alwaysin conflict.
And this brings us to the left'sfavorite game, self
(09:28):
contradiction.
The United Auto Workers Union,for example, the U aaw supports
Democrats, but so does theNational Education Association,
the NEA, the Teacher's Union,but university towns, you know,
the NE's strongholds.
They're filled with Subarus andAudis, not Fords and Chevys.
(09:51):
So who's really backing theAmerican worker?
It sure isn't the guy teachingMarxism and driving a Hyundai.
Now, what happened to Trump'sbillionaire?
Friends benefit, benefiting thestock market Took a hit.
Billionaires lost millions onpaper at least, and yet.
(10:16):
Media says, Trump's only helpinghis billionaire friends even
while those billionaires arelosing money.
Here's a sidebar for you.
When the market dropped afterthe Trump assassination attempt,
that was the biggest dip of theyear.
Nothing but crickets from themedia on that one.
(10:39):
Now you have to ask yourself,why aren't China, Korea, and
Japan.
Trading with each other.
Here's the contradiction.
No one talks about Mexico,Canada, and the US are huge
trading partners.
That's as it should be.
We are neighbors and China,Korea, Japan, they're neighbors.
(11:06):
They have ports, they haveshipping lanes, but instead of
trading with each other.
They all desperately export tous.
Why?
Because they don't trust eachother.
China subsidizes.
(11:27):
Korea blocks, imports.
Japan defends domestic markets.
They don't believe in freetrade.
They just expect us to.
It is like a three-way cold warwhere everyone depends on the
same customer, and when thatcustomer, the US decides to set
(11:48):
some terms, they cry foul.
Give us a break.
The thing about it is a lot ofglobal trade is just a monument
to waste.
Here you have a ship full ofKorean cars.
It gets underway and sailsaround Japan.
(12:11):
It crosses the Pacific throughthe Panama Canal and up the East
Coast, and it does that to sellcars that we already make here.
There is no economic need.
It's not rubber or rare earthminerals or even chocolate.
(12:33):
So you wanna talk aboutemissions.
Waste carbon footprints.
Try looking at global shipping.
Ships burn.
The dirtiest fuels available,but the climate protestors are
silent.
We import cheap plastic junk.
(12:53):
We don't need trendy clothesthat we throw away.
Ordinary summer fruit.
We can get cheap all summer.
We want it in the winter.
You know what?
Blueberries in January, fine,but don't try to tell us this
system is more efficient thanbuying American.
(13:17):
Oh, and because by the way, thefewer ships we have here
unloading goods from China, thefewer opportunities they have to
smuggle fentanyl.
There's very little economicjustification for much
international trade, but tradeimbalances are especially bad
(13:37):
for the climate.
Where are the protestors?
With Asian countries shipping somuch merchandise to the US
without their buying our goods?
That means all those ships comehere.
Belching, diesel smoke.
Then they return empty to theother side of the world.
(14:01):
Huge ships going halfway aroundthe world with nothing in them.
How is that good for, for theenvironment?
And again, where are the climateprotestors?
We believe in free trade.
The problem is no one else does.
Europe uses regulations to keepout American food.
(14:24):
Phony regulations, France bansharmless food additives.
Germany complains about GMOs.
Japan and Korea protect theirlarge industries, keeping
American products out andbailing out national industries
that get into trouble.
That's not free trade.
(14:45):
And now they want to retaliatebased on what.
Europe can't even feed itself.
Only three of the big countriescan.
The us, Russia, and India.
Everyone else needs us more thanwe need them.
Not just in how much we trade,but in what we trade.
(15:10):
So before you slap a tariff onAmerican wheat, maybe think
about where your next baguetteis coming from.
In short, the media's narrativeis garbage.
Tariffs aren't inflation.
They're not taxes on the poor.
They're not unprecedented.
(15:31):
They're not even unfair.
They're actually overdue.
Every other country protects itsmarkets.
Were just finally waking up anddoing the same.
The Biden administration spentyears setting money on fire.
Spending it on wars, handoutsmass migration and ESG pipe
(15:51):
dreams.
That's why we had inflationtrump's tariffs.
That's just one man saying ifyou want access to the American
market, it's gonna cost yousomething.
And for once they're listening.
So let the world whine.
(16:12):
Let the media scream.
Let Europe, huff and PuffAmerica isn't the world's piggy
bank anymore, and if the priceof defending our workers,
rebuilding our industry, andstanding up for ourselves is a
few extra bucks on a bottle ofFrench wine, well then just pour
(16:34):
me a Napa Valley cab instead.
We will be just fine.
If you like this breakdown,subscribe and share the 10th Man
Podcast where you'll hear theobvious truth.
They say tariffs are attacks on the poor.
They say Trump's trade policieswill crash the economy, but the
real threat to global trade isglobal trade itself.
Today on the 10th man.
The whole world is talking aboutTrump's tariffs, and almost
(00:33):
everything they're saying iswrong.
They say Trump is taxing thepoor.
They say tariffs causeinflation.
They say America is now anunreliable trade partner.
And they say it all with astraight face, but we're not
here to nod along withconventional wisdom, but to
challenge it.
So let's break this down.
(00:59):
Let's start with the tariffscause inflation claim.
It sounds plausible until youremember what inflation actually
is.
Inflation is when you pay moreand get nothing extra.
Your dollar buys less.
It's the price, wage, spiralcosts chase wages, wages, chase
prices and everything inflateslike a balloon.
(01:21):
Ready to pop.
Tariffs.
Don't do that.
If a tariff raises the price ofyour champagne or your BMW, it's
a one time bump, not a spiral.
And guess what?
You're still getting champagneand BMWs.
You are just paying a premiumfor the privilege import of
(01:42):
importing luxury.
Tariffs are not.
Inflationary wars are socialprograms are printing millions
for stimulus is inflationary.
Paying people not to work isinflationary, but a tariff, it's
a price signal.
(02:02):
It's saying, buy American or payup.
Let's look at some things thatare inflationary war.
When you take billions ofdollars of material and blow it
up on the battlefield, guesswhat?
That's not investment.
That's waste and waste causesinflation, guns or butter.
(02:26):
You can't have both.
Energy policy.
Biden said, no more drillingenergy prices spiked.
Natural gas makes fertilizer andfertilizer makes food.
Congratulations, you just madegroceries more expensive.
(02:46):
Mass migration, migrants consumeservices, but they don't build
homes.
They live in shelters.
You are producing less, butdemanding more as a society.
Inflationary riots and protests,those are not only unproductive,
(03:07):
they're destructive.
Burn a Tesla dealership, and nowwe all pay more for Teslas or
for insurance.
And every one of these examplesis a left wing policy.
Everyone is inflationary, andyet the left says tariffs are
the problem.
Are they outta their minds, butare tariffs unfair?
(03:33):
Well, let's ask the obviousquestion.
If tariffs are bad, why doesevery other country use them?
Europe slaps tariffs on ourbeef, our bourbon, our corn, our
ketchup, and even our Cheerios.
China doesn't believe in freetrade.
China believes in manipulation,subsidies, and stealing
(03:54):
intellectual property.
Obama used tariffs.
Biden kept Trump's tariffs.
Trump's just the first one tosay out loud, Hey, maybe America
should actually get something inreturn.
I.
In world trade and he campaignedon tariffs.
He won on tariffs.
(04:15):
He implemented tariffs, and nowthey act surprised he's bringing
them back.
Well, Europe and China, you hadfive months after the election
to prepare to make changes.
In negotiate.
You didn't, and that's not ourfault.
Retaliatory tariffs.
(04:35):
Hilarious.
Other countries now say they'llretaliate, raise prices on
American goods.
Okay, here's a fun fact.
You can't win a trade war withthe US because you don't have
the leverage.
We buy your stuff, but you don'tbuy ours.
We run the trade deficit, sothat gives us the upper hand.
(04:59):
We can stop buying, but youcan't stop selling.
And you can't slow down buyingthat.
You're not doing in the firstplace, retaliating against the
US when you're the exporterslike trying to hold your breath
until we give you oxygen.
Oh, and Canada, you're not CostaRica.
(05:22):
You don't grow bananas ororanges.
We grow the same things.
You do grain and timber and thenyou're threatening to cut off
electricity.
Electricity is not something youcan store.
You can't load it on a ship andexport it.
You generate it now and you needto sell it now or never.
(05:44):
And if we need it and can't getit from you, what happens?
Who's the unreliable partnerhere?
And if we don't buy it, who areyou gonna sell it to?
Unless you're a boomer or older,you probably don't remember red
pistachios.
All of our pistachio nuts aretan now, but let's go back to
(06:08):
the 1980s.
Back then, Iran controlled thepistachio market.
They dyed them red to coverimperfections.
Then along came the Iran hostagecrisis, and they cut us off from
their pistachios.
So what did we do?
We just started growing our own,and California pistachios took
(06:31):
over the market.
Today we export more pachiospistachios than Iran does.
And you can't even find a redpistachio here anymore.
Iran thought they had us, andinstead we replaced them.
So if France wants to taxbourbon or Europe blocks our
ketchup instead of settling, gofor it.
(06:53):
You're just gonna create yournext competitor.
'cause we can make our ownchampagne.
Don't make us prove it.
And not just luxury goodseither.
Tariffs on foreign cars mean alot of people are going to
switch to American cars.
Once they find out American carshave higher quality than they've
(07:16):
been told.
Good luck to you trying to getthose customers back.
Are tariffs attacks on the poor?
Not really.
Let's talk about this tax on thepoor argument.
Problem is in the US the poordon't pay income tax.
(07:39):
In fact, with the earned incomecredit, they often get money
back.
You've gotta make over$30,000 ayear to pay a dime in federal
income tax and tariffs are onlya tax if companies pass on the
cost and they don't have to.
Take Wal Walmart, for example.
They told their Chinesesuppliers, you're gonna eat the
(08:01):
tariff.
We're not raising prices.
And most of these things thatget tariffs, they're optional.
Nobody needs a Jaguar or Frenchchampagne or Mexican avocados
for that matter at her.
On the other hand, back inEurope and Canada, every wage
(08:22):
earner is taxed.
So the tariffs they charge onAmerican goods are gonna be just
piled on top of the existingtaxes they pay that are already
too high.
So tariffs are actually a tax onthe rich.
In reality, tariffs are morelike a tax on choice.
(08:44):
If you want the foreign car, theimported cheese, the fancy
French lipstick, you're gonnapay a little more, or you can
drive your Ford.
You can buy domestic.
You need Wisconsin cheddar,you're not gonna suffer.
You might even save moneybecause tariffs here aren't
mandatory.
(09:05):
Inflation is mandatory, andthat's the difference.
And if American companies stepup, you create jobs along with
those markets, the foreignersmay never get back.
You know, Democrats are alwaysin conflict.
And this brings us to the left'sfavorite game, self
(09:28):
contradiction.
The United Auto Workers Union,for example, the U aaw supports
Democrats, but so does theNational Education Association,
the NEA, the Teacher's Union,but university towns, you know,
the NE's strongholds.
They're filled with Subarus andAudis, not Fords and Chevys.
(09:51):
So who's really backing theAmerican worker?
It sure isn't the guy teachingMarxism and driving a Hyundai.
Now, what happened to Trump'sbillionaire?
Friends benefit, benefiting thestock market Took a hit.
Billionaires lost millions onpaper at least, and yet.
(10:16):
Media says, Trump's only helpinghis billionaire friends even
while those billionaires arelosing money.
Here's a sidebar for you.
When the market dropped afterthe Trump assassination attempt,
that was the biggest dip of theyear.
Nothing but crickets from themedia on that one.
(10:39):
Now you have to ask yourself,why aren't China, Korea, and
Japan.
Trading with each other.
Here's the contradiction.
No one talks about Mexico,Canada, and the US are huge
trading partners.
That's as it should be.
We are neighbors and China,Korea, Japan, they're neighbors.
(11:06):
They have ports, they haveshipping lanes, but instead of
trading with each other.
They all desperately export tous.
Why?
Because they don't trust eachother.
China subsidizes.
(11:27):
Korea blocks, imports.
Japan defends domestic markets.
They don't believe in freetrade.
They just expect us to.
It is like a three-way cold warwhere everyone depends on the
same customer, and when thatcustomer, the US decides to set
(11:48):
some terms, they cry foul.
Give us a break.
The thing about it is a lot ofglobal trade is just a monument
to waste.
Here you have a ship full ofKorean cars.
It gets underway and sailsaround Japan.
(12:11):
It crosses the Pacific throughthe Panama Canal and up the East
Coast, and it does that to sellcars that we already make here.
There is no economic need.
It's not rubber or rare earthminerals or even chocolate.
(12:33):
So you wanna talk aboutemissions.
Waste carbon footprints.
Try looking at global shipping.
Ships burn.
The dirtiest fuels available,but the climate protestors are
silent.
We import cheap plastic junk.
(12:53):
We don't need trendy clothesthat we throw away.
Ordinary summer fruit.
We can get cheap all summer.
We want it in the winter.
You know what?
Blueberries in January, fine,but don't try to tell us this
system is more efficient thanbuying American.
(13:17):
Oh, and because by the way, thefewer ships we have here
unloading goods from China, thefewer opportunities they have to
smuggle fentanyl.
There's very little economicjustification for much
international trade, but tradeimbalances are especially bad
(13:37):
for the climate.
Where are the protestors?
With Asian countries shipping somuch merchandise to the US
without their buying our goods?
That means all those ships comehere.
Belching, diesel smoke.
Then they return empty to theother side of the world.
(14:01):
Huge ships going halfway aroundthe world with nothing in them.
How is that good for, for theenvironment?
And again, where are the climateprotestors?
We believe in free trade.
The problem is no one else does.
Europe uses regulations to keepout American food.
(14:24):
Phony regulations, France bansharmless food additives.
Germany complains about GMOs.
Japan and Korea protect theirlarge industries, keeping
American products out andbailing out national industries
that get into trouble.
That's not free trade.
(14:45):
And now they want to retaliatebased on what.
Europe can't even feed itself.
Only three of the big countriescan.
The us, Russia, and India.
Everyone else needs us more thanwe need them.
Not just in how much we trade,but in what we trade.
(15:10):
So before you slap a tariff onAmerican wheat, maybe think
about where your next baguetteis coming from.
In short, the media's narrativeis garbage.
Tariffs aren't inflation.
They're not taxes on the poor.
They're not unprecedented.
(15:31):
They're not even unfair.
They're actually overdue.
Every other country protects itsmarkets.
Were just finally waking up anddoing the same.
The Biden administration spentyears setting money on fire.
Spending it on wars, handoutsmass migration and ESG pipe
(15:51):
dreams.
That's why we had inflationtrump's tariffs.
That's just one man saying ifyou want access to the American
market, it's gonna cost yousomething.
And for once they're listening.
So let the world whine.
(16:12):
Let the media scream.
Let Europe, huff and PuffAmerica isn't the world's piggy
bank anymore, and if the priceof defending our workers,
rebuilding our industry, andstanding up for ourselves is a
few extra bucks on a bottle ofFrench wine, well then just pour
(16:34):
me a Napa Valley cab instead.
We will be just fine.
If you like this breakdown,subscribe and share the 10th Man
Podcast where you'll hear theobvious truth.
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