Tim Scott Throws Down With CNBC Hosts Over Tariffs And Whether Or Not Trump Caused Inflation: He ‘Talks In The Abstract’

CNBC’s Squawk Box co-hosts Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin sparred Wednesday with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) over former President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.

“Are you a free trader senator?” asked Kernen at one point during the conversation.

“Absolutely,” Scott shot back.

“You agree with all the tariffs. Do you think John Deere 200%. Do you think companies that make stuff here should have a 15% tax? That’s industrial policy, isn’t it?” Kernen replied, referencing Trump’s tariff plans.

“I believe that President Trump oftentimes talks in the abstract,” Scott replied as the host chuckled a bit and one said, “Okay.”

“Number one. Number two, I do believe that we have the final point where we want…” Scott tried to continue as Ross Sorkin interjected, “What are we supposed to believe then?”

“Well, listen, let’s believe his performance. Believe what we saw for 2017 to 2020. Well, let me finish, because you ask a good question. What should we believe? We should believe that a 28%, reducing the taxes from 35 to 21% repeat repatriated almost $2 trillion from around the world bringing it home. We should believe the 7 million jobs that he created and two-thirds of those jobs went to African Americans, Hispanics, and women. We should actually believe what he produced,” Scott replied.

“Obviously, that excludes Covid, right? Part of what part of what you’re saying is we should sort of take this time out period around Covid and not include that in,” Ross Sorkin hit back.

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I would actually say that if you look at Covid itself specifically, they said that you couldn’t get a vaccine in ten years or five years. He did it in nine months,” Scott replied as they spoke over each other a bit.

“I’m talking about economic numbers,” Ross Sorkin clarified, adding:

And the reason I’m raising this is because when we try to do an apples-to-apples between the Trump administration and the Biden administration, invariably what we hear is look at all of the economic growth during the Trump administration. But by the way, please don’t look at the last year and then look at how terrible we say that the Biden administration did on a relative basis. But by the way, please listen, please don’t even contemplate the idea that anything happened before that as it relates to Covid.

“Let us ask the American people, are they better off now than they were four years ago? The answer is emphatically no. Why?” Scott hit back.

“Because we were writing them checks with Donald Trump’s name on them!” declared Ross Sorkin.

“The average family has lost 1,000 dollars, 1,075 dollars in lost spending power. Of course, you’re not better off when gas is up 50% more than the last…” Scott responded.

“And why do you think that was?”

“Well, obviously, there’s two reasons, but one, the reason why the average American family has less spending power today than they did beforehand was because the first the first vote the Democrats took in January 2021. And you had…” Scott continued as Ross Sorkin tried to cut in.

“Can I finish my comment!? Thanks so much. $1.9 trillion of additional spending from the federal government,” Scott added.

Kernen agreed, saying, “After we were already coming out of it.”

“As an accelerated inflation. Inflation hits 9% in June, July of 2021, leading to the crushing effect of high inflation that we haven’t seen since the Jimmy Carter years on the average person working paycheck to paycheck,’ Scott continued.

Not convinced, Ross Sorkin asked, “How do you explain that then against what we saw around the globe as it relates to inflation? If you are going to put all of that on that bill?”

“Here’s how you do it. You go from the $1.9 trillion to an infrastructure bill that was $1.2 trillion and then an Inflation Reduction Act, which was another $800 billion. You add it all together, artificial stimulation from the federal government always causes a crisis in the real economy, which is the U.S. economy,” Scott answered.

Watch the full clip above.