O’Leary: Tariff rebate checks ‘a bad idea’
“Shark Tank” celebrity Kevin O’Leary said it was a “bad idea” for Congress to consider tariff rebate checks, saying any money raised by higher tariffs should be used to reduce deficits and debt.
“What should be happening now with any extra income is to pay down the national debt,” O’Leary said during a Tuesday appearance on CNN’s “News Night with Abby Phillip.”
“That‘s the opportunity, because the greatest gift you can give to the future is to pay down the debt, which is just really, really big,” he added.
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) introduced a Tuesday bill seeking to provide $600 tariff rebates to almost all Americans and to their dependent children.
The funds would be distributed through direct payments, as previously authorized during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hawley and others who have discussed rebate checks connected to President Trump’s tariff regime have suggested the money could help U.S. consumers dealing with higher prices. Tariffs raise costs for importers, and those costs generally take the form of higher prices unless companies fully swallow their costs.
But the national debt is also skyrocketing, in part due to policies backed by Congress and Trump, who just signed tax legislation that extends a number of tax cuts that would add to the debt — depending on how one scores them.
O’Leary suggested much remains unknown about Trump’s tariffs and their impact on the economy ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline the president imposed for countries to reach deals with the U.S.
“We’re still negotiating with these countries because we don‘t have deals with Mexico, no deals with Canada, India no deal. Europe looks like it‘s negotiating something here. But the real big momma is China,” O’Leary said.
“And we‘re just starting the dance with those guys. That‘s a big deal,” he added.
Trump at the beginning of the week reached a deal with the European Union.
“No administration has ever tried to do all this at once. You get the headline number, but you don‘t have the details,” O’Leary added.