Just months after the Supreme Court struck down President’s Trump’s tariffs, he has just added more. Last week on The Drew Mariani Show, financial investor Chris Temple joined Drew to cover the implications of these new tariffs.
On July 23rd, The White House announced new tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. That section allows for tariffs on any country that “permits any form of forced or compulsory labor.” The White House said the US Trade Representative investigation found that 60 countries are eligible for tariffs — some at a rate of 10% and some at 12.5%.
Temple told Drew that the new tariffs “exacerbate a problem that didn’t need to be exacerbated.” Temple is not universally opposed to tariffs, “Used properly for legitimate national security purposes or to protect U.S. industries, I’m 110% for them,” he told Drew. These new tariffs, however, will just raise prices, he said.
Tariffs, in their most basic form, are taxes levied on imports. By taxing those imports, countries can protect their own domestic industries. Ultimately, customers bear the biggest burden from tariffs in the form of higher prices for consumer goods.
In addition to raising prices for consumers, these tariffs could weaken our alliances. Trump also levied even higher tariffs on certain imports from Canada. According to the White House, certain Canadian products will be subject to a 50% tariff in response to Canada’s alleged “discriminatory treatment of American products.” Drew told Temple, “The thing about Canada that concerns me…is I don’t want to see him [Trump] drive, them into the arms of China.”
The new tariffs are not polling well. 63% of those polled opposed new tariffs, up from 48% opposed in 2024.
Trump and Tariffs
President Trump has long been a fan of tariffs. In the late 1980s, he began expressing concern about Japan. “The fact is, you don’t have free trade. We think of it as free trade, but you right now don’t have free trade,” Trump told broadcaster Larry King in 1987.
In his first term, Trump’s trade ambitions were more modest, imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and renegotiating NAFTA, now called USMCA.
On Friday, Trump went after the European Union, saying he’s initiating an investigation after they fined many large US corporations – like Apple and Meta – billions of dollars. “We anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them [the EU] at the earliest possible moment,” he wrote.