President-elect Donald Trump denied an exclusive report by The Washington Post on Monday, Jan. 6, that claimed he’s considering scaling back his tariff plans. Trump called the story “fake news.”
According to The Post, Trump aides are still looking into applying tariffs to every country, but with a more targeted approach aimed at critical imports.
Trump responded to the report just hours after the article’s publication.
“The story in the Washington Post (sic), quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of fake news,” Trump posted to Truth Social.
The Washington Post cited “three familiar sources with the matter.”
It’s a shift from what Trump said during his presidential campaign, which was 60% tariffs on China and 10% to 20% across-the-board tariffs on other countries.
Many economists warned the move could drive up inflation.
A recent poll by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the Financial Times found that 61% of economists surveyed in the U.S. said the tariff measures proposed during Trump’s campaign would have “large” or “some” negative consequences.
The U.S. dollar fell more than one percent Monday in reaction to the report.
Meanwhile, the Euro went up 1.2%.
The Post’s report didn’t detail which critical sectors the tariffs would target. The sources said preliminary discussions have focused on what Trump wants to bring back to the U.S. That includes the defense industrial supply chain, like steel, iron and aluminum; medical supplies, like syringes and needles; and energy production, including batteries, rare minerals and solar panels.
The Washington Post has yet to respond to Trump’s comment on its report.
