Voters reject Trump’s tariff push; most believe policy will hurt economy

President Donald Trump has followed through on his campaign promise to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners to secure concessions on a variety of trade and security issues, although a recent poll suggests voters are skeptical of that strategy and expect tariffs will hurt the economy.

Over the weekend, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico as well as 10% tariffs on China effective on Feb. 4, though on Monday he delayed the Canada and Mexico tariffs for at least 30 days after each country agreed to deploy 10,000 personnel to work on securing their borders with the U.S. He told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that “tariffs are very powerful both economically and in getting everything else you want.” 

“Tariffs, for us, nobody can compete with us because we’re the pot of gold,” Trump said. “But if we don’t keep winning and keep doing well, we won’t be the pot of gold and then tariffs won’t be so good for us. But when you’re the pot of gold, the tariffs are very good, they’re very powerful, and they’re going to make our country very rich again,” Trump added.

While Trump is continuing to leverage tariffs against other countries in negotiations over trade, immigration and drug policies, a Fox News Poll conducted from Jan. 10-13 found that a majority of Americans expect tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy.

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President Donald Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to use tariffs as a negotiating tool – though a recent poll shows voters worry tariffs will hurt the economy. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Fox News poll, which interviewed a sample of 922 registered voters on a mix of landlines, cell phones, and an online survey after receiving a text, asked respondents if imposing tariffs on products imported from other countries helps the U.S. economy, hurts the economy, or doesn’t make much of a difference either way.

It found that 50% of all respondents think tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy, while 32% believe they will help, and 15% think they won’t make a difference.

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There was a notable partisan split in respondents’ views of the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy. 

Among Republicans who were surveyed, 55% said they think tariffs help, while 23% said they hurt and 17% thought there was no difference. 

Over three-quarters of respondents who identified as Democrats, or 77%, said tariffs hurt the economy – while 11% said they help and 11% didn’t see a difference. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reached a deal with Trump to delay U.S. tariffs for at least 30 days while Mexico deploys 10,000 troops to the U.S. border to counter illegal immigration and drug smuggling. (Emmanuel Rosas/ObturadorMX/Getty Images, left, and Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images, right. / Getty Images)

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A majority of independent voters were opposed to tariffs, with 55% saying they hurt the economy compared with 22% saying they help and 19% thinking they don’t make a difference.

Separately, the poll asked voters whether they support Trump’s proposals to impose large tariffs on Canada and Mexico to get them to change their immigration policies. A 53% majority of respondents opposed the policy, while 42% were in favor and 6% said they don’t know.

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President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to a deal that would see the U.S. delay tariffs for 30 days while Canada acts to help secure the border. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) / Getty Images)

Voters were also asked what they think Trump’s top priority should be as president and while economic issues ranked near the top, implementing tariffs ranked near the bottom of the list.

Immigration issues such as building the wall, curbing illegal immigration and deporting illegal immigrants were tied with the economy and job creation at 13% each. 

Those were followed by addressing inflation and prices, which 11% of respondents viewed as their top priority for the president.

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Just 1% of respondents indicated that implementing tariffs should be Trump’s top priority – which was tied at the bottom with eight other responses.