Charlie Kirk wants ‘ruling class’ to show ‘contrition’ for predicting tariff catastrophe that hasn’t happened

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk went on CNBC Wednesday and called for economic elites to express remorse over forecasting economic gloom due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

While many economists predicted that Trump’s sweeping tariffs would cause a spike in inflation, it has yet to transpire and the stock market has soared to record highs. Kirk said on “Squawk Box” that the tariffs have restored America’s status “as the center point of the world economy” and made it a desirable location to invest.

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“There was a major like catastrophic prediction, right? The ‘panicans,’ ‘the whole world’s going to fall apart.’ And we just haven’t seen that,” Kirk said. “And I think there does need to be a little contrition by the economic ruling class.

“Like, ‘Hey, back when we were saying this was going to be the worst thing for the global markets ever, it turns out what it has done is it recentered America as the center point of the world economy, that people wanted to invest in this country,’” he added.

The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of everyday goods, only rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.2% in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday.

Manufacturing output also rose 0.1% in June after an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in May, the Federal Reserve Board reported on July 16. However, job growth has slowed as the BLS reported on Aug.1 that the U.S. economy added just 73,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July.

Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook announced in the Oval Office on Aug. 6 that Apple would invest another $100 billion into American manufacturing. The investment was in addition to the $500 billion the company already pledged in February.

The president signed an executive order on Monday that again postponed the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods for an extra 90 days. He has reached trade agreements with Japan and the European Union.

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