Tonight’s evening news coverage of the reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump bordered on hysterical, to the tune of a combined 25 minutes and 34 seconds. Of those, only about a minute and a half was devoted to explaining things in a manner the public could understand.
Watch as CBS MoneyWatch Correspondent Kelly O’Grady calmly explains how Trump’s tariffs are intended to do, as opposed to the usual hair-on-fire reporting:
A lone voice of reason and cool headedness among all the tariff hysteria in the evening news: CBS's @TheKellyOGrady. pic.twitter.com/PJ64LT0V6a
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 4, 2025
MAURICE DuBOIS: MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O'Grady joins us now to walk through some of the scenarios as to how this might actually play out. So Kelly, let's start with a best-case scenario.
KELLY O’GRADY: Yes, so when it comes to tariffs, I want to show you a couple of things. These are some of the positives. It’s not exhaustive. But it could mean more products made in America because companies would move manufacturing here to avoid those steep tariffs. That could also create more American jobs and, put that all together, a more self-reliant economy. Now this might take years and hundreds of billions, maybe trillions of dollars, but it certainly would have been good during Covid to have a domestic supply chain. The other thing, though, is also revenue from these tariffs that could offset government debt. The White House says $700 billion this year.
DuBOIS: Do people have the patience, that’s the question. What about a worst-case scenario? What’s that look like?
O'GRADY: So this happens a little more immediate, kind of the next few months, maybe a year, you saw the stock market today. Investors really didn't like this.
DuBOIS: Not at all.
O'GRADY: Of how it could impact profits at companies as well as the consumer, and that gets us to spending. If inflation goes up because of tariffs, which JPMorgan is projecting 1% to 1.5% this year based on yesterday's announcement, consumers might spend less which means a slower economy. And then finally, a trade war, where you have retaliatory tariffs and countries don't come to the table and negotiate, but it is all back and forth.
DuBOIS: A lot of this is based on emotion. What about a middle ground? Is there one? We see one?
O'GRADY: That's the more likely scenario. I mean, nothing in the economy happens in a vacuum. Yes this is the impact of tariffs, but there will be other things. Likely higher prices, companies will absorb some of that. But definitely some short-term pain.
DuBOIS: Again. Patience. Will people have it? We’ll see. Kelly, thank you so much.
O’Grady analyzed the tariffs in a calm, measured tone, calmly walking anchor Maurice DuBois (and viewers at home) through multiple scenarios. Regardless of where one may sit on the issue of tariffs, the viewer emerges from that segment a bit more knowledgeable about the issue at hand.
Most importantly: O’Grady didn’t editorialize or condescend. This is a restraint that we don’t see enough of in the news industry these days. Given that tariff-related news is likely to dominate in the short term, it would behoove the rest of the news media to go forth and do likewise.
