Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that President Donald Trump remained ‘wholeheartedly committed’ to bringing down food prices despite his current set of tariff threats. 

Leavitt appeared on Fox News and also talked with reporters outside the White House as Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by phone Monday afternoon. 

Ahead of taking office Trump pledged to impose 25 percent tariffs on U.S. allies and neighbors, Canada and Mexico, for not doing more to help patrol the borders. 

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have pointed out that the tariffs would only make food costs more expensive, as curbing inflation was one of the reasons voters decided to give Trump another four years. 

Leavitt argued that securing the border was more important in the short-term. 

‘While Chuck Schumer is whining about the cost of a pint of beer, President Trump is talking about saving American lives,’ the 27-year-old press secretary said on Fox News. 

She also justified billionaire DOGE leader Elon Musk’s assault on USAID – the United States Agency for International Development, which provides billions in international aid around the world. 

Leavitt highlighted some of USAID’s more eyebrow-raising expenses, as detailed earlier Monday by DailyMail.com.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a list Monday of ‘crap’ projects that were funded through USAID, the international aid agency that Elon Musk is trying to shut down 

Leavitt also told reporters Monday that President Donald Trump (pictured) is ‘wholeheartedly committed’ to bringing down food prices despite his current set of tariff threats

‘And here’s the reason why Elon Musk and others have been taking a look,’ Leavitt said. ‘If you look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAID over the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that that organization has been spending money on.’

She then read from a sheet of paper she had brought along.  

‘$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces, $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru,’ she said. 

‘I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going toward this crap and I know the American people don’t either and that’s exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do – to get the fraud, waste and abuse out of the federal government,’ Leavitt said.

Musk’s takeover of USAID has left government employees and contractors shocked and Democrats angered. 

A number of Democratic lawmakers showed up outside the agency Monday to show support after employees were turned away from the D.C. headquarters Monday morning. 

Currently Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken over as the acting administrator of USAID. 

The tariff threats also sent markets tumbling earlier Monday but Leavitt denied that had any impact on Trump striking a quick deal with Mexico. 

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By Monday evening a similar deal was worked out with Canada as well. 

‘It had no decision. What impacted the delay on the tariffs was the president of Mexico committing to putting 10,000 permanent soldiers on the U.S.-Mexican border,’ Leavitt said. 

‘The president cares about American lives,’ she continued. ‘And as I just said on television, there’s a lot of talk about the markets, there’s a lot of talk about the cost of goods, this administration is wholeheartedly committed to bringing down the cost of living in this country.’ 

‘You see that through deregulation, through the energy actions this president has taken, also through his commitment to cutting taxes, but when it comes to the cost of an American life, I think that for those of us who have children, there’s not enough money in the world to bring back the lives who have been lost because of the illegal drug and border crisis,’ she said.

‘And the president is committed to ensuring that Canada and Mexico and China understand that the United States is not going to be a dumping ground for illegal fentanyl that are killing young people in this country,’ Leavitt noted. 

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