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Baumgartner has repeatedly stated that he opposes tariffs on principle, though his stance appears to have softened somewhat since he came into office, a tension on display later in the debate. “Tariffs are taxes – this is why I oppose them,” Baumgartner said Monday night, before going on to argue that tariffs were useful negotiating tools with countries that were not trading fairly with America. “If Carmela Conroy had not lost the last election and was in Congress, she would have folks like the Washington potato growers come to her and say, ‘Right now British Columbia is not buying Washington potatoes,’” he continued. “Japan is using what’s called a non-tariff barrier, saying there’s some microbe on the potatoes , do not purchase them.” Baumgartner argued Monday that government “at all levels” was “not doing right by future generations” by spending more than it was taking in – though this is technically only legal at the federal level . “I mean, America now has $40 trillion in debt,” he said. “This year, the federal government will spend $7 trillion on the back of $5 trillion in revenue.” He argued that Republicans have made progress curtailing the federal government’s spending, in part through the Elon Musk-led DOGE reforms and by adding work requirements to Medicaid and food stamps. He claimed Conroy would have supported “the largest tax increase in American history,” which appeared to be a reference to letting tax cuts from the first Trump term expire under a deadline approved at the time by Republicans.
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