‘Who do you think pays for this?’: Donald Trump’s tariff plans are torn into by President Joe Biden

Outgoing President Joe Biden lambasted Donald Trump’s economic plan moving into 2025. Amidst criticism, Biden still hopes that the next administration will build on the economic progress that he’s leaving Trump with.

In his speech at the Brookings Institute, Biden warned that the incoming Trump administration’s economic plan will only give tax cuts to the extremely wealthy. The outgoing president said, “Who do you think pays for this? I believe this approach is a major mistake.” Biden outlined that education, healthcare, and other social programs will be paying the price for the tax cuts that Trump intends to impose.

Biden recalled his economic plans and legacy. Through his speech, he recalled the economy he inherited from Donald Trump and how he salvaged it. Compared to Trump, Biden emphasized that he invested in American people—primarily, factory workers and skilled laborers. The outgoing president thinks that his ‘middle-out, bottom-up’ economic approach supports union workers and working-class people.

In contrast, Trump also believes in investing in working-class Americans through crunching down on a variety of taxes. He’s putting up massive tariffs against foreign goods for the sake of forcing American goods to be competitive. It’s a different approach compared to Biden’s, and only time will tell whether they inversely affect Americans. Nonetheless, Biden thinks that Trump’s plans are highly ineffective.

Project 2025 as an economic disaster

In addition to Biden’s criticism of Trump’s future economic plans, he also hoped that the Republican president would junk Project 2025. Biden believes that the roadmap, conceived by The Heritage Foundation, would hurt the economy. As Biden stated, “I pray to God the president throws away Project 2025. It would be an economic disaster.”

Project 2025 encompasses reforms beyond the economy. It aims to dismantle the Department of Education, heavily curtail immigration, and loosen environmental regulation, among other disastrous proposals. These ideas, no doubt, will disproportionately affect the economy and make life difficult for Americans beyond Trump’s four years in office.