It's Trump's economy: Highest tariffs in nearly a century take effect

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle

Politics, Versant, Ms Now, Versant Media, Washington, News, President, Policy, Government, Senate, Congress, Msnbc

4.5 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trump celebrates his sweeping new tariffs that took effect last night, which are the highest in nearly a century. Then, top White House officials held a meeting to discuss their strategy for handling the Epstein case, as the Justice Department faces a deadline tomorrow to decide whether to ask a judge to release the grand jury transcripts. Plus, a federal judge orders a two-week pause in the construction of Florida’s immigration detention center. Peter Baker, Dave Weigel, Mark Leibovich, John Harwood, Max Chafkin, Joyce Vance, and John Meacham join The 11th Hour this Thursday.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Tonight, day one of Trump's sweeping new tariffs, the highest in nearly a century, as the president doubles down on his claims about where the economy is headed.
0:10.7	Then the White House strategy session over the Epstein crisis, as DOJ faces a big deadline in the push to unseal grand jury material.
0:20.3	And a federal judge orders Florida to stop construction
0:23.5	on that immigration detention center in the Everglades as the 11th hour gets underway on this Thursday night.
0:34.5	Good evening once again. I am Stephanie Ruhl. It is day 200 of the second Trump administration and Donald Trump's tariff regime is now officially in place.
0:43.9	He has been celebrating since late last night. Just before midnight, he posted that billions of dollars, quote, largely from countries that have taken advantage of the United States for many years,
0:56.0	will start flowing into the United States. Then just after midnight, he posted billions of dollars
1:01.8	in tariffs are now flowing into the United States of America. Well, today, Commerce Secretary
1:06.7	Howard Lutnik said the country expects to take in $50 billion in tariff revenue each month.
1:15.1	If that's true, that means it is import taxes or consumer sales taxes, i.e. you're paying it
1:22.2	and I am paying it. I have said this on this show many times. And I'm going to continue to say it, because no matter what President Trump says about tariff money flowing into the U.S. from other countries, it is not true.
1:36.8	That is not how any of this works.
1:39.1	That $50 billion a month, Howard Lutnik is talking about, is coming from American companies and eventually
1:45.2	American consumers. You know who knows that? Howard Lutnik, he knows that. And so does our Treasury
1:50.8	Secretary, Scott Besson. Watch what happened today on Morning Joe. But assuming it does come
1:58.3	from Brazil, say, or it comes from any country with a tariff, who writes the check to the Treasury?
2:05.6	Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock in the U.S.
2:12.0	The check is, quote it, written by the person who receives it at the dock.
2:16.8	So the tariff is paid in this country
2:19.4	by the importer, is that right? But the Brazilian exporter could decide that they want to
2:25.4	keep market share. They could lower their price so that the full 50% of the tariffs say,
2:31.4	you know, and you're, right, they can eat part of the... They can eat part of the tariffs, too.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.