White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted negatively to a loaded question from an Associated Press reporter about tariffs.
Leavitt was answering questions from journalists on Tuesday during a news conference at the White House when Associated Press reporter Josh Boak inquired about the administration’s trade policies as President Donald Trump was preparing to address the Business Roundtable.
“When President Trump last addressed the BRT when he was on the campaign trail, his big push was on tax cuts,” Boak told Leavitt. “He’s going there today as he’s proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs, and I’m curious why he’s prioritizing that over the tax cuts?”
Leavitt replied that “he’s actually not implementing tax hikes.”
“Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off,” she shot back.
“Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate for tax cuts.”
Boak continued to be combative with Leavitt.
“I’m sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don’t get charged on foreign companies, they get charged on importers,” he answered.
Leavitt noted that tariffs would also increase wages and provide new job opportunities for Americans, then expressed that she did not appreciate the purported question.
Is Karoline Leavitt doing a good job as press secretary?
“I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decision that this president has made,” Leavitt said.
“I now regret giving a question to The Associated Press.”
“I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt scorches an AP reporter’s line of questioning on President Trump’s newly imposed tariffs. pic.twitter.com/hG0QLOF9eA
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 11, 2025
There is indeed a debate to be had about tariff policy.
Opponents like Boak rightly recognize that effectively limiting the import of foreign goods has the effect of increasing prices.
But proponents like Leavitt and those within the broader Trump administration rightly observe that they keep revenues in the country while promoting economic development.
In any case, the way Boak approached the question was not as a journalist seeking a legitimate clarification on the administration’s policy, but as an activist with an axe to grind about tariff policy.
He was fully aware that he was antagonizing Leavitt by framing his question in terms of “proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs.”
Perhaps he’s mad that the Associated Press has been denied access to certain parts of the White House for continuing to call the Gulf of America the “Gulf of Mexico,” even though the name has been formally changed in official government sources.
Or maybe he really is just worked up over tariffs.
Either way, the antics Boak displayed in the briefing room show why Americans are annoyed with the establishment media.
Rather than seeking the truth, they push a leftist perspective while cloaking their activities in the veneer of neutrality.
That gives them the air of both smugness and wokeness, which together are absolutely insufferable.
Leavitt was right to shut him down. Surely the folks at home were glad to see that happen too.
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