CNN host Jake Tapper refused to be labeled a member of “the left” in an interview with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Sunday about the fallout from President Donald Trump‘s tariff plans.
“So how long do you anticipate this tariff chaos is going to be going on? 30 days, 60 days, 90 days?” Tapper asked Rollins on “State of the Union.”
“I think it’s really important to realize that last Wednesday was when the president announced this new American order, the new American economic plan,” Rollins said. “We‘re now two days in. You‘ve got two days of data, everyone, especially on your side, on the left, is freaking out.”
“I’m not on the left,” Tapper quickly said, prompting an amused response from the Trump cabinet official. “Alright, Jake, thank you,” Rollins said.
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Tapper, who has been a CNN host since 2013, has faced criticism from conservatives for being overly hostile to Republicans and Trump over the years, but he’s been defended by the network as an impartial journalist.
The Trump administration’s tariff plan leveled a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports to the U.S., while customized tariffs were set for countries that have higher tariffs in place on American goods. The baseline tariffs of 10% took effect on Saturday, while the other tariffs will take effect on April 9.
Rollins continued to defend Trump’s tariff policies, saying that the U.S. has been long overdue in restructuring its economic policy to protect American interests.
“This whole concept is about rebuilding an American economy around American goods, around American industry,” the cabinet member said. “We do already live under a tariff regime in this country, but it’s the tariff regime of China, of Mexico, of Brazil, of Australia, of countries that, Mexico won’t take our corn, Australia won’t take our beef. The country of Honduras takes more pork than the entire European Union does — American pork, I should say.”
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Rollins said that it was “time for a change” in American tariff policy and predicted that Trump’s decisions would soon reveal a “positive outcome” for the country.
“We already have 50 countries that have come to the table over the last few days, over the last weeks, that are willing and desperate to talk to us,” she said. “We are the economic engine of the world, and it’s finally time that someone, President Trump, stood up for America.”
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
