Kemp at Munich Security Conference: Trump Should Watch for Tariff Effects on Inflation 

Having campaigned on lowering costs for consumers, President Donald Trump should keep an eye on the potential effects of tariffs on inflation, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said during a visit to the Munich Security Conference. 

“It’s not in anybody’s interest if we drive up cost,” Mr. Kemp said during an interview with Politico at the summit of mostly European leaders and policy makers. 

Mr. Kemp wouldn’t speculate on Mr. Trump’s economic rationale for upending global trade other than to point to “imbalances” in some countries that should be “fair game” for rectification.

Voters, however, are highly sensitive to price hikes, and that Republicans at the national and state levels alike must make good on their promises to tackle what he called ”40-year high inflation” caused by the Biden-era policies Mr. Kemp was already railing against during his re-election campaign in 2022. 

“I do think it’s something they should keep a watch on, and I think they understand that — you’ve got a lot of businesspeople that are in this administration,” he said.

One should also note, he said, that the president is “doing exactly what he said he would do” on a variety of fronts, from tariffs to energy, cost-cutting and deporting “criminal” immigrants. 

And the president is moving with more urgency now that he has “a unique opportunity to reset what his political history, what his legacy, will be,” the governor said.  

Mr. Kemp relates, noting that he came back from a statewide election loss earlier in his career with a resolve to get things done right out of the gate. 

“I think that’s why he is moving so quickly,” Mr. Kemp said, noting that the Trump team 2.0 seems to have a better handle on the levers of government.

Around the conference, the governor said he has gotten the impression that the rapid pace of change in just a few weeks has rattled many U.S. partners. 

He advises his interlocutors to take a longer view, saying that his experience working with the Trump administration, both the first time and this time, has been productive. As current chair of the Republican Governors Association, he said he is “excited to work with this administration.” 

“From our (persecutive), it’s not near as chaotic as people are making it out to be,” Mr. Kemp said, offering advice for foreign leaders: “I tell them, it has only been a few weeks — give it time to settle down, don’t overreact and hopefully that’s helping some.” 

He also said that the pace of change could be designed to discombobulate Democrats, which he painted as a party in disarray. 

“They’re so unprincipled in their party right now, they can’t understand what they are for in order to communicate that — because there is such a division in the party. And then the president and his team are putting so much out there that they are not sure which direction to go to.”

The trip to Munich, where the state operates its European trade office, is the governor’s second this year. He visited Germany and Poland on an economic mission in January. 

He noted that three German companies are undertaking expansions in Georgia right now, signaling a confidence that he doesn’t see when talking to foreign ministers, ambassadors and some companies at the conference, some of whom are making the case that they already invested in the U.S., yet are still getting threatened or hit with tariffs. 

“To those people, I’ve been saying, ‘You just need to tell your story, not overreact and kind of see how these things play out.’” 

Interviewed by Politico’s Politics Bureau Chief Jonathan Martin, Mr. Kemp got a chance to give his elevator pitch for the state of Georgia.

Noting that he is focused on passing what has become the defining issue of this year’s session — tort reform — he declined to give a timeline for declaring a run for Senate or other federal office. 

He reiterated Georgia’s status as the No. 1 state for business, offering favorable infrastructure and two new nuclear reactors with ample clean power, an important consideration for some European manufacturers and tech firms. 

Last week, Mr. Kemp announced that the state had achieved record exports, noting that 87 percent of Georgia exporters are small businesses.

Mr. Kemp was reportedly the only U.S. governor in attendance at the conference, during which Vice President J.D. Vance ruffled feathers by using his speech to scold Europe for what he viewed as stifling free speech by failing to work with far-right parties.

On X, Mr. Kemp noted that he met with business leaders as well as Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, along with Argentine Secretary of International Affairs for Defense Juan Battaleme.

View the full interview on Politico.com