Group That Says Tariffs Are Taxes Touts Tariff-Pushing JD Vance Taking Its No-Tax Pledge

In 2019, when then-President Donald Trump was considering higher tariffs on goods from Mexico, Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, held an unequivocal view: “Tariffs are taxes.”

But this year, as two advocates of higher tariffs are heading the GOP’s White House ticket, that view hasn’t stopped ATR from boosting Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, with the group saying he took its famous no-new-taxes pledge.

On Tuesday, the conservative group touted Vance’s signing of the pledge, while at the same time criticizing Vance’s Democratic counterpart, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for hikingtaxes in his state.

“While Tim Walz has raised taxes for Minnesotans by $10 billion dollars, Senator @JDvance has signed the #NoNewTaxes Pledge, vowing to protect Americans from income tax hikes,” read an ATR social media post, which was one of several trumpeting Vance’s pledge amid this week’s vice presidential debate.

ATR has long been seen as one of the most influential interest groups in Washington. Norquist, its founding chief, is considered a tax world giant, helping lead the Republican Party to prioritize lower taxes ahead of cutting the budget deficit. One of the biggest weapons in that fight has been the pledge.

This history made its touting of the Vance pledge curious. The pledge is usually couched in terms of allowing Americans to keep more of their earnings. Yet, two think tanks from opposite sides of the political spectrum — the Center for American Progress and the American Action Forum — have said the tariff ideas pushed by Trump and Vance would result in typical U.S. households paying about $3,900 more a year.

“I’m surprised that ATR would come out and advertise that, given how tariffs are a