Sen. J.D. Vance defended former President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, saying it penalizes importers who undercut American workers, including with “slave labor,” not consumers.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press”, host Kristen Welker asked Mr. Vance, Mr. Trump’s running mate, about the tariffs imposed during Mr. Trump’s presidency, which she said cost Americans nearly $80 billion, as sellers passed on the taxes in the form of higher prices for the imported goods.

Mr. Vance defended the tariffs, saying “what it really does is it penalizes importers from bringing goods outside the country, into the country.”

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“I think that’s just a necessary thing. We know that China and a number of other countries are using, effectively, slave labor to undercut the wages of American workers,” the Ohio Republican said. “Donald Trump thinks that has to stop.”

When asked whether he acknowledges that tariffs cost consumers money, he said “no, I don’t,” arguing that making imports more expensive has a “dynamic” effect by encouraging producers to make their goods instead in the U.S. and avoid the tariffs.

“I think economists really disagree about the effects of tariffs. Because there can be a dynamic effect, right? So what some economists will say is what you just said, that it will actually raise costs for consumers. But what other people say, and I think the record supports this other view, is that it causes this dynamic effect where more jobs come into the country,” he said.

“Anything that you lose on the tariff from the perspective of the consumer, you gain in higher wages, so you’re ultimately much better off,” he said. “You have more take-home pay, you have better jobs.”

He argued that Mr. Trump’s tariffs brought manufacturing jobs back to the United States and “he did it while keeping prices extremely low,” noting that even though tariffs were raised under Mr. Trump, inflation was far lower than under President Biden.

“If you go back to the Trump presidency, we had 12,000 factories that were built during Donald Trump’s presidency. Inflation never really ticked above 2% his entire administration,” he said.

He said that if Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t willing to impose tariffs “on companies that are manufacturing in China, using slave labor in China, you’re not standing up to the Chinese, and Americans are really going to suffer,” he said.

The Washington Times has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.