Charlie Kirk on Trump's Tariffs Plus Deregulation Strategy and the Path to Economic Independence from China

[00:00] understand that yes, the market has been

[00:03] going through a fair amount of

[00:04] turbulence, but there are other very

[00:06] positive indicators as well. Inflation

[00:08] report yesterday was terrific. We are

[00:11] seeing interest rates plummeting. We're

[00:13] also seeing oil prices plummeting,

[00:15] deregulation is happening. We need to

[00:17] get rid of so much of the nonsensical

[00:20] Biden era deregulation. You know,

[00:22] sometimes people say, "Charlie, what do

[00:24] you disagree with President Trump on?" I

[00:26] don't even know if this is a

[00:26] disagreement. President Trump will

[00:28] famously said, "Well, for every one new

[00:30] regulation, we have to get rid of two

[00:31] regulations." I think you shouldn't add

[00:33] any new regulations and get rid of five,

[00:36] six, 7,000 lines of regulation. Who says

[00:39] you have to add new ones? Just slash

[00:41] these ridiculous, nonsensical rules that

[00:44] are on the regulatory book that make it

[00:45] harder for businesses to be able to

[00:47] operate, to hire, and deploy capital.

[00:49] Maria Barard Romo says this perfectly

[00:53] that we are seeing a decrease in oil

[00:56] prices which you are going to feel at

[00:58] the pump in the next two weeks. We are

[01:00] seeing interest rates go down which by

[01:02] the by by the end of the year we might

[01:04] see a significant cut in rates which

[01:06] will help first-time home buyers. Play

[01:09] cut

[01:10] 130. That's what we've been pointing out

[01:12] this morning and the president has been

[01:14] pointing it out. Rates are plummeting.

[01:16] Oil prices are plummeting. deregulation

[01:19] is happening. You know, we we've got

[01:21] we've got all of these things happening.

[01:24] President Trump is not going to bend. He

[01:27] he he he told me uh you know, a number

[01:30] of times that he's trying to build the

[01:32] economy and make it independent as

[01:35] opposed to relying on China for things

[01:38] like prescription drugs.

[01:41] Now, now I have to further explain the

[01:44] contrast what President Trump is doing

[01:46] with tariffs versus what someone like

[01:48] Bernie Sanders would do with tariffs.

[01:49] And it's an incredibly important

[01:52] distinction. Let's say it was Bernie

[01:54] Sanders who once supported tariffs and

[01:57] in a tepid way says, "Yeah, you know,

[01:59] we'll do tariffs." The difference is

[02:01] that if President Bernie Sanders, you

[02:04] know, God save us from such a thing,

[02:06] would do tariffs, he would create a

[02:09] domestic control socialist economy. What

[02:14] President Trump is doing is incredibly

[02:16] unique is that he is doing tariffs while

[02:20] liberating the American market economy.

[02:24] It's exactly the right ingredient. So

[02:27] tariffs are trade barriers. However, you

[02:30] can avoid a tariff by making products

[02:32] here. One of the reasons why we've been

[02:35] falling behind on manufacturing is

[02:36] because it's so hard to build new

[02:38] factories. And one of the greatest

[02:40] regulations of all is

[02:42] DEI. I believe DEI is the silent

[02:46] regulation that is an albatross around

[02:49] the neck of corporate America. DEI makes

[02:51] us less competitive. It makes us less

[02:53] entrepreneurial. It makes us take less

[02:56] risks. It prioritizes equity

[02:59] and racial parity or racial preferences

[03:03] over excellence. And you must choose.

[03:05] DEI is like the silent regulation that

[03:08] was written into every single corporate

[03:10] handbook by soft corporate and soft

[03:13] cultural decree post Floyd Palooa. It

[03:17] was more about outcomes over

[03:19] opportunity. And not even about

[03:20] outcomes. It was honestly about a very

[03:24] perverted tribal racial preference

[03:26] doctrine that was force-fed into

[03:30] corporate America. So what President

[03:31] Trump is attempting to do is liberate

[03:35] the American economy through massive tax

[03:37] cuts,

[03:39] deregulation, energy boom while having

[03:42] trade barriers. And that

[03:45] mixture should work. Again, we don't

[03:47] know. But you must remember people voted

[03:49] for this. I would have grave concerns

[03:52] about tariffs if President Trump was

[03:54] talking about massive tax increases,

[03:57] more regulation, more government

[03:59] programs, more government redistribution

[04:03] and tariffs because then why would

[04:04] anyone want to do business here? What

[04:06] President Trump is doing is he's making

[04:08] it more appealing to invest while also

[04:11] having a penalty to not

[04:13] invest. So, he's doing both those

[04:15] things. He's making the penalty to not

[04:17] invest be higher because we are the

[04:19] world's consumer. We are the premier

[04:22] consumer economy on the planet. Every

[04:25] country desires to be a consumer

[04:27] economy. Every country wants to be a

[04:29] consumer economy. We have achieved that.

[04:31] We also now want to go back to be an

[04:33] industrial economy. And here's the

[04:35] little secret. It's so much easier to

[04:38] rebuild an industrial sector than

[04:41] suddenly become a consu a consumer

[04:42] economy. Because in order to become a

[04:44] consumer economy, you must be insanely

[04:47] rich. Very few countries are insanely

[04:49] rich. And China is can't be a consumer

[04:53] economy internationally. They can

[04:55] domestically because they don't want

[04:56] other countries stuff to be sold in

[04:57] their country. Well, more for us. Being

[05:00] a consumer economy is not necessarily

[05:02] bad. What is bad is also not being a

[05:05] production economy. If you are both, you

[05:08] are a superpower the likes of which the

[05:09] world has never seen. And we can get

[05:11] that back. So, President Trump doing

[05:13] tariffs plus

[05:16] domestic supply side market boom

[05:20] economics. There's a lot of talk of

[05:21] what's happening in Israel right now.

[05:23] Hostages being released, terrorists

[05:25] resurfacing, Gaza plans, and so on. But

[05:28] there's one thing we tend to overlook.

[05:29] The people of Israel. The war has taken

[05:32] a huge physical and emotional toll on

[05:34] the Jewish people. And that's why I want

[05:36] you to know about the International

[05:38] Fellowship of Christians and Jews. and I

[05:40] want you to support the important work

[05:42] they do. IFCJ is on the ground

[05:44] throughout Israel providing food and

[05:45] life-saving aid to the sick and elderly,

[05:48] even released hostages and their

[05:49] families. Join with me and visit

[05:53] iffcj.org/learn more. For some instant

[05:56] analysis, Senator Schmidt from the great

[05:58] state of Missouri joins us. Senator

[06:00] Schmidt, great to see you. Yesterday,

[06:02] there was some breaking news. The House

[06:04] passed the budget budget resolution.

[06:06] What is that? And within the budget

[06:08] resolution, were there details of no tax

[06:10] on tips, no tax on overtime, or was that

[06:13] just the precursor to be able to now get

[06:15] into those negotiations? Senator, please

[06:17] explain. Yeah. Yeah. Great to be with

[06:19] you, Charlie. Yeah, exactly. The latter.

[06:21] So, basically, the budget resolution

[06:23] sets the framework by which now we move

[06:26] into the reconciliation process, right?

[06:28] So, it unlocks the process for the

[06:30] committees to go do the work, right?

[06:32] like Ways and Means or the Senate

[06:34] Finance Committee to start to put meat

[06:36] on the bones of these ideas that have

[06:37] been talked about principally um you

[06:40] know making the tax cuts from 2017

[06:42] permanent extending those um and then

[06:45] you've got all the other things that no

[06:47] tax on tips you've got money for border

[06:49] security and deportations

[06:52] um because we're going to need help to

[06:53] make sure this mass deportation movement

[06:55] is actually funded uh for defense and

[06:58] then also you know for for permitting

[07:00] reform hopefully on energy and then

[07:02] Lastly, and I think almost most

[07:04] importantly, uh, some spending reforms.

[07:06] We've got to get this thing under

[07:08] control. Charlie, I tell people that

[07:10] here's what's interesting. In 2019, not

[07:12] 1919. In 2019, we were spending about $4

[07:16] trillion. We spend $7 trillion after the

[07:19] last four years of the Biden budget and

[07:21] the COVID orgy spending, right? We take

[07:24] in five trillion. So, if we can actually

[07:27] have some reform, bend that curve, have

[07:30] revenues with all of the good things

[07:32] that are happening with President Trump

[07:33] catch up, it's realistic to think we can

[07:35] have a balanced budget in a few years.

[07:37] But we've got to do that hard work. And

[07:38] we can do that in the reconciliation

[07:40] process, too, which only takes a simple

[07:42] majority in the Senate. And I think for

[07:43] the audience, that's the most important

[07:45] thing. If the House can hang together

[07:47] and Senate Republicans can hang together

[07:49] on this, we don't need a single Democrat

[07:51] vote. I wouldn't expect to get one

[07:52] because they're, you know, they're not

[07:54] rational at this point. So, we got to

[07:56] make sure we uh we take care of our own

[07:58] business here.

[08:00] So, so Senator, one one question I have.

[08:02] I I agree the amount of money we are

[08:04] borrowing is extraordinary. I mean it it

[08:06] is as if it's when COVID happened, we

[08:10] decided to just put back all of our

[08:13] monetary or fiscal I should say impulses

[08:15] of fiscal discipline and we have decided

[08:18] to basically embrace the cheap money

[08:21] guzzle. However, Senator, there are

[08:23] rumors that we might increase the

[08:25] Department of Defense budget to a

[08:27] trillion dollars. Where do you

[08:29] anticipate these spending cuts coming

[08:31] from? I'm all for a big and mighty

[08:34] military. However, first and foremost, I

[08:36] think the greatest threat to our

[08:37] national security is our national debt,

[08:39] not even any existential foe. So, build

[08:42] out where you think some of these cuts

[08:44] will come. More broadly, I know that you

[08:46] have to keep your cards close to your

[08:47] chest, but if we're talking about an

[08:49] increase in the defense budget, where

[08:51] else can these cuts come from?

[08:55] Sure. And um and you're right. I think

[08:57] that um it's coming into focus now. We

[09:00] spend more, we spend a trillion dollars

[09:02] a year on the interest on that $36

[09:04] trillion debt. That's only going to grow

[09:07] as some of these things become more

[09:08] mature mature and they need to be

[09:09] refinanced um with higher interest rates

[09:12] over the last few years because of Biden

[09:13] inflation. Right? So that problem is

[09:15] only going to get more significant

[09:17] unless we can find real savings. I think

[09:19] there there's two ways to look at this.

[09:21] One is there's a lot of um discretionary

[09:24] spending that we're finding the savings.

[09:25] This is the work that Doge is doing,

[09:27] right? And so we've already just take

[09:29] USAD as an example. Um all of that

[09:32] money, Guan sex changes, DEI and Burma,

[09:36] LGBTQIA, you know, programming in Sesame

[09:38] Street in Iraq, that all stuff that adds

[09:41] up, right? And that's the kind of thing

[09:43] like take Marco Rubio, what he said was

[09:45] he said 83% of the stuff we were doing,

[09:47] we're not going to do that anymore. The

[09:49] 17% that remains, we're going to go move

[09:52] in further American interests overseas.

[09:54] Right? That's the kind of reform you

[09:56] have internally that Doge finds that

[09:58] gets embedded in savings moving forward.

[10:00] What are some other things you can do? I

[10:02] think what's broadly popular um is work

[10:05] requirements. Uh if you're an

[10:06] able-bodied adult, you should be

[10:08] required to work. Um that explosion

[10:11] under Obamacare is is really affecting

[10:13] people who need it most, Medicaid. So,

[10:15] when President Trump talks about making

[10:17] sure we're not touching Social Security,

[10:19] not making sure we're touching uh

[10:20] benefits on Medicare or Medicaid, I

[10:22] think we're all with him in lock step,

[10:24] but we got to make sure that um you

[10:26] know, the the the able-bodied population

[10:28] that's not working. They're draining the

[10:30] system. They're crowding hospitals.

[10:32] They're crowding out doctor visits for

[10:34] you know, pregnant mothers, individuals

[10:36] with disabilities, what that program was

[10:38] really meant for. So, there's a lot of

[10:39] work to do, as I said, to put meat on

[10:41] the bones there. But, I think we can get

[10:43] there. And here's the way to look at it.

[10:45] If we just went back to prepandemic

[10:47] spending, Charlie, 2019 spending levels

[10:51] plus inflation and population growth,

[10:54] that's like a trillion dollar difference

[10:55] than what we're spending right now. So,

[10:57] I think we can make some real progress

[10:59] here.

[11:01] So, I I now want to get into the tariff

[11:04] aftermath. I mean you come from a state

[11:06] that has a lot of a and a lot of once

[11:09] mighty industry and also a fair amount

[11:12] of exporting and international business.

[11:14] How is how are your major industries in

[11:17] Missouri thinking about these tariffs?

[11:19] And what is your message to some of the

[11:21] audience that might be a little worried

[11:22] that uh tariffs might be mean higher

[11:25] prices uh and that we might have a

[11:28] little bit of uh economic uncertainty

[11:31] coming down the the the coming down the

[11:34] next couple of months.

[11:36] Yeah, I spent a lot of this week I think

[11:38] defending President Trump's leadership

[11:40] in Washington and permanent Washington's

[11:42] totally disconnected from what's really

[11:44] happening. Sort of the global elites

[11:46] have had their run here after World War

[11:48] II. Um, we had all these favorable deals

[11:51] for countries who were trying to get

[11:52] back on their feet. Germany, Japan, all

[11:54] these countries. And when the co with

[11:56] the goal of defeating Soviet communism,

[11:59] okay, we won. After the cold war ended

[12:01] though, we didn't adjust at all. So, you

[12:03] can't buy you can't buy or you don't see

[12:05] an American car in Europe. You don't see

[12:07] an American car in Japan. You don't see

[12:08] an American car in Korea. Yet all of

[12:11] their cars are in our markets because

[12:13] they have erected these barriers over

[12:15] time through tariffs, trade barriers,

[12:18] uh, in China specifically, stealing our

[12:20] IP. It's been very unfair to us. And I

[12:23] do come from a state and I grew up in a

[12:25] blueco collar neighborhood where all

[12:26] those good paying jobs, those factory

[12:28] jobs, they went overseas. Fentanyl, you

[12:31] know, we got Sentinel in exchange. And

[12:33] so my message is America isn't an

[12:35] economic zone. America isn't some strip

[12:37] mall with an airport attached to it.

[12:40] It's a people. It's a place. It's our

[12:42] home. And we finally have a president

[12:44] that's willing to stand up and say, "You

[12:45] know what? We've been treated very

[12:46] unfairly. We're going to treat you like

[12:48] you treat us." And now look what's

[12:50] happening. 70 countries plus have come

[12:53] to the table and said, "We heard what

[12:54] you had to say. We understand the United

[12:56] States of America's 39% of all the

[12:58] consumption in the world. It's 25% of

[13:01] the world's GDP. It's a very important

[13:03] market for us. So, we're going to lower

[13:05] our trade barriers so that we can, you

[13:07] know, actually have fair trade." So,

[13:08] President Trump has made tremendous

[13:10] progress on this. And by the way, it

[13:11] opens up markets for our farmers and our

[13:13] other industries around the world. I

[13:15] think the way to look at this, Charlie,

[13:16] is you've got two different buckets.

[13:18] You've got communist China and you've

[13:20] got everybody else. China is the worst

[13:23] offender. They made a terrible decision

[13:24] in trying to escalate this. They rip off

[13:26] our IP. They steal our jobs. They create

[13:29] trade barriers. They say, "Oh, yeah, no,

[13:31] you you can't sell your chickens here

[13:33] because you didn't wash them properly,

[13:34] or you can't sell your electronics here

[13:36] because there's this bolt that's out of

[13:37] place." So it's not just the tariffs,

[13:39] it's all the other hidden trade barriers

[13:41] that prevent our goods getting to

[13:42] market. They export five times more than

[13:45] we export to them. They have a hell of a

[13:47] lot more to lose in this uh if they

[13:49] continue down this path. So we'll see if

[13:51] they have a come to Jesus moment or not.

[13:52] I think the rest of the world is and I

[13:54] think at the end of the day it's going

[13:56] to lead to greater prosperity for us

[13:57] because we're going to have more markets

[13:58] open. We'll have more revenue coming

[14:00] into this country and we'll bring back

[14:02] industry, those good paying jobs that we

[14:03] had for a very long time that didn't

[14:05] need to go somewhere else.

[14:08] Senator Schmidt, we are out of time.

[14:09] Thank you for your leadership and we

[14:12] will be talking to you soon. Please keep

[14:14] the pressure on your Senate colleagues

[14:15] for massive and real spending cuts and

[14:18] we need money for border security. So,

[14:20] you got to reconcile those two things,

[14:22] no pun intended, during this

[14:23] reconciliation package. Thank you so

[14:25] much, Senator. Really appreciate it.

[14:28] We'll do it, brother. Take care. See

[14:29] you.