Bill Clinton Reveals President Trump Once Suggested Americans ‘Stop Paying Taxes Altogether’

Former President Bill Clinton is revealing a conversation he had with President Donald Trump more than two decades ago, when the two played golf together and discussed an idea that could have changed how Americans pay taxes.

Clinton, 80, recalled the exchange during a campaign rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Friday, October 30, according to a Yahoo Finance article published Wednesday, November 4.

“I’ve known President Trump a long time. We used to have quite a friendly relationship 24 years ago. We’d play golf,” Clinton told the crowd while campaigning for Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom, the outlet reported.

The former commander-in-chief explained that Trump, 80, was already interested in imposing tariffs on imported goods long before entering the White House.

“Even then, he believed in these tariffs,” Clinton said, per the report. “He kept saying, ‘We’re the biggest, strongest, richest country in the world. Why don’t we just put a bunch of tariffs on everybody else and stop paying taxes altogether?'”

Clinton recalled trying to explain why the proposal could hurt American consumers.

“Because these people don’t just eat the tariffs. They just charge the people who buy the stuff, whatever it is. So, we pay the tariffs,” he remembered telling Trump.

According to Clinton, his explanation didn’t change Trump’s thinking.

“Just like now, he didn’t hear what he didn’t want to hear,” Clinton said.

Tariffs are taxes imposed on imported goods. Businesses bringing products into the United States pay those charges, but they can pass the additional costs to customers through higher prices.

A Federal Reserve analysis published in April estimated that tariffs implemented through November 2025 had increased core goods prices by 3.1 percent as of February 2026.

Trump has defended tariffs as a way to strengthen the American economy and protect domestic businesses.

“I always say ‘tariffs’ is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary,” the The Apprentice alum said, per NPR. “Because tariffs are going to make us rich as hell. It’s going to bring our country’s businesses back that left us.”