Kevin O’Leary: Tariff Rebate Checks Are a Bad Idea

HAQ: “They’re just having a hard time getting their goods in here. We‘re the ones, ultimately, who have to get the pocketbook.”
PHILLIP: “So, before, Kevin, 1.2% was the tariff level on EU imports. Now it‘s 15%. And that‘s supposed to be a huge victory for Americans?”
O’LEARY: “15 up to 27. The EU deal was negotiated by a team of five representing 26 different jurisdictions. Both the French and the Germans came out this morning and said, ‘We‘re not happy with the outcome of that negotiation. The only reason the Europeans have agreed to an asymmetric tariff — in other words, they‘re paying more to come and bring their products here than we are paying to go into Europe — is because of two sectors: pharma and automotive. They can‘t give up access to the American market for these behemoth businesses they have in pharma and automotive. What‘s interesting about this whole narrative about rebate checks, because Trump also brought it up and these other ideas, that‘s a bad idea. What should be happening now with any extra income is to pay down the national debt. That‘s the opportunity, because the greatest gift you can give to the future is to pay down the debt, which is just really, really big. And so I think, at the end of the day, we‘re still negotiating with these countries because we don‘t have deals with Mexico, no deals with Canada, India no deal. Europe looks like it‘s negotiating something here. But the real big momma is China. And we‘re just starting the dance with those guys. That‘s a big deal. And I — no administration has ever tried to do all this at once. You get the headline number, but you don‘t have the details.”