Trump using tariffs as a ‘tool for grift,’ Raskin says, demands donor

A top House Democrat on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of using tariffs as a “tool for grift and self-enrichment,” pointing to what he says are suspicious import-tax exemptions for industries whose leaders have curried Trump’s favor with gifts and donations.

“You took care to cut lots of sweetheart deals with corporations and industries that won carve-outs from your tariffs when you saw you could get something good in return,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told Trump in a fiery letter obtained first by CNBC.

Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and the former top Democrat on the House oversight committee, highlighted three such tariff carve-outs — for Brazilian meat, diamonds and smartphones — that he says “make little to no sense” under the criteria set by the Trump administration.

“They do, however, make sense when factoring in the now world famous Trump Tariff Discount,” Raskin wrote, coining a term to describe the president’s alleged willingness to cut breaks for his allies and benefactors “when the price is right.”

The letter asks Trump to hand over multiple categories of records spanning his second term, including communications between the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, or USTR, related to any form of tariff relief for more than a dozen industries.

It makes a similar request for communications involving private-sector representatives, including Apple executive chairman Tim Cook and Rolex CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour. Raskin asked for those records by Nov. 11.

Raskin’s pugnacious letter directly accuses Trump of “profound corruption,” asserting that his heavy-handed use of tariffs is really about clinching “levers of power that you could maliciously pull to extract exciting concessions for yourself.”

The missive — which cites the Judiciary Committee’s “jurisdiction over corruption, conflicts of interest, and effective enforcement of criminal and civil laws” — could offer a preview of how Democrats will flex their oversight powers against Trump should they win majority control of the House or Senate in the midterm election.

Raskin also drew a link between Trump’s alleged misuse of tariffs and Americans’ affordability concerns, connecting two of voters’ top concerns in the final stretch of the election cycle.

“While you have protected your personal investments and crocodile skin connoisseurs from the giant bite of your tariffs, the American people are suffering. Independent analysts expect that your latest round of tariffs will cost an average of $820 per U.S. household this year,” he wrote, citing data from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

The most recent CNBC All-America Economic Survey found voters are most concerned about government corruption, followed by high grocery and gas prices. Democratic candidates have deliberately tailored their campaign…