‘Let Them Eat Soup’
Possible billionaire Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is most-famous for the $600 custom embroidered velvet slippers he wore one year ago to Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress. Now, he’s famous for something else.
Secretary Ross on Friday tried to sell his aluminum and steel tariffs that President Trump announced Thursday that have caused the markets to tank. And tank they have. The DOW has dropped 600 points over the past two days so far.
Ross took to CNBC and appeared with props: cans of Campbell’s soup, Coke, and Budweiser, holding up the cans and telling consumers the 10 percent tariff on aluminum and 25 percent tariff on steel will have “limited impact,” as the sidebar shows the DOW down 274 points, and growing.
“In a can of Campbell’s Soup, there are about 2.6 pennies worth of steel. So if that goes up by 25 percent, that’s about six-tenths of 1 cent on the price on a can of Campbell’s soup,” Ross said. “I just bought this can today at a 7-Eleven … and it priced at a $1.99. Who in the world is going to be too bothered?”
Earlier in the day, Ross, who is reportedly worth somewhere between $700 million and several billion dollars, had tried to convince consumers the tariffs which he reportedly pushed Trump into, will have little impact on those buying a $35,000 car.
“There’s about ton of steel in a car. The price of a ton of steel is $700 or so, so 25% on that would be one half of 1% price increase on the typical $35,000 car. So it’s no big deal.”
He also called the pushback on the tariffs “false hysteria.”
On social media, Ross was mercilessly mocked.
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