Despite President Trump’s strong advocacy for tariffs, his former chief economist, Larry Kudlow, argues that at heart, Trump is both a “free trader” and an “internationalist.” Kudlow expressed these views in an exclusive interview on the latest episode of “Pod Force One.”
Kudlow, who was the director of the National Economic Council from April 2018 until the conclusion of Trump’s first term, told Post columnist Miranda Devine that the president envisions a world without any trade barriers.
“Donald Trump is a free trader. I’ve had many deep discussions with him about this topic over the past decade,” said Kudlow, now a host on Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow.”
“He’s fundamentally an internationalist, having conducted business globally. This notion of him being an isolationist is utterly mistaken, as evidence has shown,” Kudlow continued. “Regarding trade, his fundamental preference is for zero tariffs, or very low tariffs, eliminating non-tariff barriers and various government subsidies.”
For decades, Trump, now 79, has denounced foreign entities for exploiting the US with “unfair” trade practices. During his 2024 campaign, the Republican boasted that “the word ‘tariff’ is the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
Months into his second term, Trump has raised tariffs to their highest levels in over a century.
Traditionally, conservative orthodoxy has disapproved of protectionist trade measures like tariffs. Kudlow, 78, was a vocal critic of tariffs before he joined Trump’s first administration.
But the New Jersey native explained that his perspective began to shift as he realized the extent to which foreign countries set up barriers against accepting American goods.
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“The guy who had a big influence on me is [former US Trade Representative] Bob Lighthizer,” Kudlow recounted. “Lighthizer and I were two Reagan kids. That’s when we first met. But he really showed me the differentials, what India was charging in tariffs, and what China was charging in tariffs.”
“I had a sort of right-mainstream free trade view, but I didn’t know much about trade, and the differentials were enormous.”
Kudlow also told Devine that “we don’t live in a world of free trade” and “have not lived in such a world probably since the few years following World War II.”
“If you go back and look, the United States, everybody was helping the Allies recover — in Europe, in Japan and so forth. But that didn’t last long, and the world trading system has been broken for decades and decades.”
Full Episode
Trump’s team wrapped up preliminary trade deal frameworks with many of America’s top trading partners over the summer, with negotiations still ongoing with China and India.
“This global trade war retaliation never happened,” Kudlow proclaimed. “…Instead of flocking to China, they flocked to the United States. And our trump card here was always our massive economy. Not just our consumer economy, but our massive economy. And Trump knew that.”
“It’ll change. It’ll go up, it’ll go down. Sometimes there’ll be tariffs, sometimes there won’t be, but it’ll be much improved,” Kudlow said. “… It’s going to take a while, and as I say there’ll be bumps on the road, but he’s well on his way to a big victory.”
