By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

A trade expert is calling on President Donald Trump to eliminate all tariffs after the president exempted more than 200 food products to reduce consumer prices.

Even after the exemptions, Trump has defended his use of broad tariffs, which he says will bring back lost manufacturing jobs and shift the income tax burden away from Americans. However, with consumers facing higher prices at the grocery store, Trump took action Friday he said will reduce prices for Americans. For months, Trump and the White House have insisted tariffs wouldn’t affect prices.

Scott Lincicome, the vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute, said Trump didn’t go far enough to help consumers.

“The administration’s reduction in U.S. tariffs would be a welcome relief for American consumers and the economy more broadly, but let’s not kid ourselves here: The administration imposed these same tariffs just months ago, insisting they would not raise consumer prices. Many other unilateral tariffs remain in place, imposing similar harms on American families and companies,” he said.

Lincicome said frequent changes to tariffs make planning a nightmare for businesses. He called for Trump to eliminate all tariffs.

“The constant tariff changes make planning budgets, payrolls, and investments all but impossible,” he said. “And, as last week’s Supreme Court proceedings demonstrated, the tariffs’ legality is dubious at best. The best course of action here – for consumers, companies, the US economy, and the world – is for the administration to eliminate all of these tariffs, instead of sporadically nixing a few of the most politically sensitive ones because economic reality dared to intrude on their misguided trade adventurism.”

Trump defended his tariffs on Monday and said he would send tariff dividends to Americans in late 2026. That would likely need congressional authorization. Early estimates also suggest the proposed tariff rebate checks would cost more than the import taxes generate in revenue.

Earlier this week, White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Center Square that the groundwork for the tariff exemptions was laid back in September and additional exemptions are not expected.

“The Trump administration is committed to pursuing a nimble, nuanced, and multi-faceted strategy on trade and tariffs,” he said. “President Trump’s tariffs are levelling the playing field for American workers and securing trillions in investments to make and hire in America, and Americans can rest assured that our America First trade strategy will continue to help restore American Greatness.”

Trump upended global trade earlier this year by imposing a 10% base tariffs on imports from every country, plus additional specific nation-specific rates.

A legal challenge to Trump’s authority to impose tariffs without Congressional approval remains pending before the Supreme Court. Justices appeared skeptical of the broad tariff authority Trump claimed during oral arguments in the case on Nov. 5.

A Congressional Budget Office report from August estimated tariffs could bring in $4 trillion over the next decade. That CBO report came with caveats and noted that tariffs will raise consumer prices and reduce the purchasing power of U.S. families.