By Rachel Cohen
nj.com
(TNS)
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) discussed President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda on Tuesday, warning that he sees “choppy waters ahead.”
During an appearance on “Squawk Box,” Ryan compared the state of the economy—with Trump’s new tariff rates on dozens of countries and the Federal Reserve continuing to leave rates steady—to “driving the car with two feet.”
“On the gas, we got good tax policy, there’s pro-growth. We’ve got regulatory relief coming, and we got this AI boom that’s going to be great for productivity,” Ryan said.
“On the brake, tariff uncertainty, and a debt crisis on the horizon, which is going to mess with interest rates. So I think all of that, that combustible mixture, is giving people cause for concern,” he continued.
When asked by anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin to weigh the importance of tariffs, Ryan said that they are “the biggest deal right of anything that’s out there,” pointing to “uncertainty” felt by some Americans.
Ryan said that it is “more than likely” that the Supreme Court will strike down Trump’s emergency tariff authority, which he has used as the legal basis to impose his “reciprocal” tariffs on U.S. imports that are set to go into effect on Thursday.
Trump became the first president to involve the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—and an appeals court is currently reviewing his authority.
“Then, the president’s going to have to go to other laws to justify tariffs … . And these agreements could be a little upended if he loses in court,” Ryan said.
Ryan said that Trump has not followed concrete reasoning in how he decides certain rates, pointing to how he has looked to enforce a 50% tariff on Brazil, despite the United States having a trade surplus with the country.
“There’s no sort of rationale for this, other than the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions,” Ryan said, adding that he believes the administration will face legal challenges.
According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. government collected nearly $30 billion in tariff revenue in July, marking a 242% increase from the same period compared to last year. Since April, when Trump first announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs, more than $150 billion has been pooled in, the department’s “Customs and Certain Excise Taxes” data shows.
In Trump’s latest tariff move, he announced an additional 25% rate on India on Wednesday, pushing the country’s total tax to 50%. Trump claimed that its government is “currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil” in his executive order.
Photo caption: House Speaker Paul Ryan speaks to the media outside the White House on Dec. 20, 2018. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)
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©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: economy, Paul Ryan, tariffs, Taxes, trump tariffs, Trump tax plan
