A fiery exchange on Tuesday occurred between White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Associated Press reporter Josh Boak regarding President Donald Trump’s tariff policy. The confrontation indicated increasing tensions between the Trump administration and top news organizations.
Boak challenged Trump’s conversion from advocating tax reductions to proposing tariffs, stating they act as a tax raise. Before he could complete the question, Karoline Leavitt interrupted, refuting the assertion categorically.
When President Trump last spoke to the VR team when he was on the campaign trail, his big push was tax cuts. “He’s going there today as he’s proposing tax increases in the form of tariffs—” Boak said before being interrupted.
“Not raising taxes on him is he. Tariffs are a tax increase on countries that have been taking advantage of us. Tariffs are a tax decrease for the American people,” Leavitt countered, highlighting Trump’s economic policy, such as reducing taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits.
Boak Tests Leavitt on Tariff Consequences
Boak resisted, countering Leavitt’s argument. “I’m sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don’t get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers.”
Leavitt did not back down from Trump’s position, stating that equitable trade policies would benefit American workers in the end. “And ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades, as I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again.”
Karoline Leavitt Denounces Boak’s Interrogation as “Insulting
Increasingly exasperated, Leavitt criticized the way Boak was questioning her, accusing him of trying to test her knowledge of economics. “And I think it’s insulting you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions this president has made,” she said.
The contentious exchange is the latest example of tensions between the Trump White House and the AP. In February, Trump revoked the AP’s access to the Oval Office and Air Force One. The decision came after the news organization refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
The acerbic exchange reflects ongoing tension between Trump’s White House and news organizations challenging his economic policies.