Latest news with #AdvancingAmericanFreedom
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pence Promises Americans ‘Will Pay' for Trump's Tariff Chaos
Former Vice President Mike Pence struck a blow at his former boss over the impact of his tariffs. 'The president always says that countries that sell into America have to pay,' Pence said, referring to Trump's pledge that exporting countries—not consumers—will shoulder the cost of his tariffs. 'But the truth, I think … is it's ultimately, for the most part, American consumers that will pay the price of higher tariffs,' Pence said during a panel discussion at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday. Trump's tariffs have launched a trade war against traditional allies. In February, he imposed 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, which he has since adjusted. On April 2, which Trump dubbed 'Liberation Day,' he announced a slew of tariffs against nearly 60 additional countries, including a 145 percent levy on goods from China. After a tense weekend of negotiations with China in May, Trump backed down, announcing a 90-day reduction on Chinese tariffs to 30 percent. He also implemented a 90-day tariff pause on several other 'Liberation Day' targets as negotiations continue. Pence's warning at the event, co-hosted by his conservative think tank Advancing American Freedom, echoes the chorus of analysis from economists, who have said the president's tariffs have shrunk the economy, caused thousands of layoffs, and could cost American families around $3,200 extra annually. On May 15, Walmart said it would raise prices for consumers because of higher import costs, prompting the president to declare that the company should 'EAT THE TARIFFS.' Pence was not the only speaker to condemn the president's tariffs during the conference. During the same panel, former House representative and major Republican donor Art Pope, CEO of Variety Wholesalers, told the audience, 'It's not a question of whether or not we eat [the tariffs]. It's a question of whether or not we stay in business or go bankrupt.' This is the fourth time Pence has broken from his former boss in recent weeks. Though he rarely criticizes Trump directly, Pence told CNN on May 5 that he feared the tariffs would 'result in inflation,' 'harm consumers,' and, ultimately, would 'harm the American economy.' The statements came after Pence penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last month urging the president to reconsider the tariffs, which he called a 'massive policy misstep.' Last week, in an appearance on Face the Nation, Pence voiced concerns about Trump accepting a free airplane from Qatar, arguing the country has known ties to terrorist organizations and calling the move 'inconsistent with our security, with our intelligence needs.' Despite Trump and Pence's history, the former vice president said he doesn't believe the president is acting in bad faith. 'I don't question his sincerity,' he told audience members. 'But I think the long and unbroken history of this country proves that trade has benefited the American people.'
Associated Press
19-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Pence speaks in North Carolina against broad Trump tariffs and praises House on tax bill
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke Monday in North Carolina against the Trump administration's zealous efforts to impose tariffs on trading partners worldwide — another effort that shows his willingness to split at times with his former boss. The education arm of Pence's political advocacy group kicked off in Raleigh a series of events nationwide that was also billed as building support to extend tax reductions enacted by Trump and Republicans in 2017 but set to expire at year's end. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Pence praised congressional Republicans for pushing ahead President Donald Trump's bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, saying 'there should be no higher domestic priority' than making permanent income tax cuts passed in Trump's first term. But much of the meeting focused on Pence and key conservative business leaders in North Carolina opposing Trump's tariff program. Monday's event marked another step by Pence to try to distinguish himself among the small group of Republicans in Washington willing to publicly criticize policies sought by the second Trump administration. Pence and others said protectionism would ultimately harm the U.S. economy in the form of higher prices and employment losses. 'It is ultimately for the most part American consumers that will pay the price of higher tariffs,' Pence said at the event assembled by Pence's Advancing American Freedom Foundation and the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation. The massive budget bill, which also contains additional tax breaks that Trump campaigned for in the 2024 election — as well as spending reductions and beefed-up border security — initially failed to pass the House Budget Committee late last week. A handful of conservatives who voted against the bill want further cuts to Medicaid and green energy tax breaks. House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to send the bill to the Senate by Memorial Day. The bill cleared the committee in a rare Sunday night meeting, but Johnson told reporters afterward that negotiations were ongoing. 'I'm encouraged,' Pence told the AP after the event. 'I'm grateful that conservatives in the House have been pressing for more common sense reforms in Medicaid.' Three days ago, Moody's Ratings mentioned the 2017 tax cuts as it stripped the U.S. government of its top credit rating, citing the inability of policymakers to rein in debt. Conservatives see the tax cuts as providing fuel for the economy while putting more money in taxpayers' pockets. Democrats say the wealthiest Americans benefit the most from them. Pence told the AP the larger issue is the unwillingness of politicians to consider 'commonsense, compassionate' entitlement reforms for Medicare and Social Security that would address the nation's nearly $37 trillion of debt and 'set us back on the path of fiscal integrity.' Pence said he's proud of Trump's first-term efforts to use the tariff threat to reach new free-trade agreements with trading partners. And Pence agreed that China is an exception for retaliatory tariffs, citing intellectual property theft and dumping products like steel onto world markets. But Trump's second-term effort, seeming to make tariffs large and permanent, are very different and misguided, he said. Trump said that countries 'have to pay for the right to sell here,' Pence said in recalling first-term conversations. 'Any time I'd remind him that actually it's American importers that pay the tariff, he would look a little annoyed at me from time to time and say, 'I know how it works.' And then he'd say, 'but they have to pay.'' While the former Indiana governor and U.S. House member refused to break with Trump during their time together in office, the two had a falling out over his refusal to go along with Trump's efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election. Trump had tried to pressure Pence to reject election results from swing states where the Republican president falsely claimed the vote was marred by fraud. A 2024 presidential campaign by Pence — and potentially against Trump — ended early. He committed to invigorating Advancing American Freedom by promoting conservative principles on domestic and foreign matters as Trump's brand of populism has taken hold in the GOP. Pence's group spent nearly $1 million on ads opposing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. And he's also spoken in favor of Trump standing with long-standing foreign allies.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pence on running for president again: ‘I don't see that in my future'
Former Vice President Mike Pence doesn't expect to attempt a grand political comeback and likely won't ever run for the White House again, he said in an interview that aired on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday. 'I don't see that in my future,' the former Indiana governor told NBC's Kristen Welker. 'I don't see it, but we'll keep standing for everything we've always stood for, and we'll let the future take care of itself.' Pence, 65, said he would like to continue to play a role in conservative policy, though he offered no direct insight into what that may look like. He launched the Advancing American Freedom conservative think tank in 2021, and he sought the GOP presidential nomination last year but gained little momentum among voters. 'I want to be a voice for conservative values. I want to be a voice for the policies and liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,' Pence told Welker. ' I want to be a champion of the conservative cause, and that's where I'll stay focused, and we'll let the future take care of itself.' Pence and President Trump had a major falling out at the end of the first Trump presidency, as Trump refused to concede Democrat Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election. Trump's denials prompted supporters to storm the Capitol to try to stop Congress and Pence from certifying the election results, and Pence and his family had to be whisked to a secure location as rioters made their way through the building. 'We were different men, different personalities, but we developed a kind of relationship where President Trump was not just my president — he was my friend,' Pence told Welker, reflecting back on the prior Trump administration. 'I couldn't be more proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration. I mean, it didn't end the way I wanted it to, but what we were able to do to rebuild our military, to revive our economy, to appoint conservatives to our courts that gave us a new beginning for the right to life and upheld religious liberty and all are going to be a source of great satisfaction for the rest of my life,' he added. He declined to speculate about who Trump's successor as the future leader of the GOP should be. Trump recently named Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential torchbearers. 'We have a very deep bench on the Republican side, which is a little bit different than the Democratic Party these days,' Pence said. 'We've got a lot of great men and women, and for my part, my goal is to make sure that whoever leads our party in the future, that's someone who embraces that broad, mainstream conservative agenda that's always made America strong and prosperous and free.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
18-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Pence on running for president again: ‘I don't see that in my future'
Former Vice President Mike Pence doesn't expect to attempt a grand political comeback and likely won't ever run for the White House again, he said in an interview that aired on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday. 'I don't see that in my future,' the former Indiana governor told NBC's Kristen Welker. 'I don't see it, but we'll keep standing for everything we've always stood for, and we'll let the future take care of itself.' Pence, 65, said he would like to continue to play a role in conservative policy, though he offered no direct insight into what that may look like. He launched the Advancing American Freedom conservative think tank in 2021, and he sought the GOP presidential nomination last year but gained little momentum among voters. 'I want to be a voice for conservative values. I want to be a voice for the policies and liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,' Pence told Welker. ' I want to be a champion of the conservative cause, and that's where I'll stay focused, and we'll let the future take care of itself.' Pence and President Trump had a major falling out at the end of the first Trump presidency, as Trump refused to concede Democrat Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election. Trump's denials prompted supporters to storm the Capitol to try to stop Congress and Pence from certifying the election results, and Pence and his family had to be whisked to a secure location as rioters made their way through the building. 'We were different men, different personalities, but we developed a kind of relationship where President Trump was not just my president — he was my friend,' Pence told Welker, reflecting back on the prior Trump administration. 'I couldn't be more proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration. I mean, it didn't end the way I wanted it to, but what we were able to do to rebuild our military, to revive our economy, to appoint conservatives to our courts that gave us a new beginning for the right to life and upheld religious liberty and all are going to be a source of great satisfaction for the rest of my life,' he added. He declined to speculate about who Trump's successor as the future leader of the GOP should be. Trump recently named Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential torchbearers. 'We have a very deep bench on the Republican side, which is a little bit different than the Democratic Party these days,' Pence said. 'We've got a lot of great men and women, and for my part, my goal is to make sure that whoever leads our party in the future, that's someone who embraces that broad, mainstream conservative agenda that's always made America strong and prosperous and free.'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump dolls remarks ‘really damaging messaging': Marc Short
President Trump risks alienating people if he keeps talking about dolls, Marc Short, who was a top aide to then-Vice President Mike Pence during Trump's first administration, said during a Monday appearance on CNN. Trump, a billionaire businessman and former reality TV star, has faced backlash for repeatedly saying in recent days that children can get by with fewer dolls this year if his sweeping tariff policies drive up living costs for families. 'I think it's really damaging messaging,' said Short, who now co-chairs the conservative Advancing American Freedom, Pence's policy and advocacy organization. 'I think everybody understands he's very financially wealthy, but beginning to tell the American people how many dolls or how many pencils they can have, I think, suggests a little bit of an elitism perspective.' Trump doubled down on his thoughts about dolls — and added his opinion on pencils — during an interview at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that aired Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'I don't think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that's 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls,' Trump said. 'I think they can have three dolls or four dolls, because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China.' 'I'm just saying, they don't need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don't need to have 250 pencils; they can have five,' he added. Retailers have been voicing concerns for weeks about the impact Trump's 'reciprocal' tariffs will have on prices and the availability of goods, but the president said Wednesday that his economic policies would require 'a little bit of time' to work out. He broached the talk of dolls during a Cabinet meeting later that day. 'Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,' Trump said. 'Maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.' Short praised Trump's policies on energy and jobs but said the administration should shift its messaging on tariffs. 'I think the administration would be better off if they had a more concerted effort to tell the American people — hey, look, we are asking the world to be united here because we're trying to take on China,' he said. Short argued the administration has not made it clear why the steep tariff hikes have been imposed. 'In some cases, they've said it's to focus on China; in some cases, they've said we're trying to lower trade barriers across the globe; and they've talked about Canada and Mexico and European allies as enemies,' he said. 'In some cases, it's been to say we're trying to address fentanyl, and in some cases, it's been to say we're going to get rid of trade deficits across every trading partner we have.' 'And so, the messaging hasn't really been concerted,' he added. 'If you begin getting to the point that people now expect some of these economic disruptions, I think a lot of Americans are going to say well, 'What is the intended purpose here — why are we being limited to the number of dolls or a number of pencils we can buy?'' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
