CNN anchor Kate Bolduan confronted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a complaint from a Trump country farmer bashing President Donald Trump’s tariffs as “pouring salt in a wound that is just now beginning to heal.”

Wednesday afternoon was the long-awaited ( and dreaded , by some ) “Liberation Day” as Trump rolled out a tariff program that was much larger and more comprehensive than many expected — cratering the stock market in the process.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN News Central , Bolduan played a clip of Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and another of Dry Ridge Farm owner Wendy Brugh , each of whom warned of the impact on farmers.

Bolduan centered several questions around Brugh’s complaint:

BOLDUAN: You talk about the impact on everyday Americans. I wanted to ask you about that because the impact on farmers is a big concern for, I’ve heard voiced by many Republicans like Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. I want to play for you what the senator has said and also what a local farmer in North Carolina is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Anyone who says there may be a little bit of pain before we get things right, need to talk about farmers who are one crop away from bankruptcy. They don’t have time.

WENDY BRUGH, OWNER, DRY RIDGE FARM IN NORTH CAROLINA: In Western North Carolina alone, Helene caused over $2.5 billion of crop losses. These tariffs are pouring salts in a wound that is just now beginning to heal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: To that farmer, the President says, what?

LEAVITT: The President is standing up for American farmers. In fact, he was joined here at the White House yesterday by many of them. We have seen China, the Chinese Communist Party buying up, gobbling up American farmland. The president is doing what’s right for these farmers into our fellow Americans. We encourage them to buy American and you look at the effectiveness of the tariffs by the investments that have poured into our country thus far. Even before the president made this announcement yesterday, he has secured trillions of dollars in investments right here in the United States of America, and he has the backs of our farmers, our workers and our invest in companies as well who are choosing to invest in the United States.

BOLDUAN: Well, I mean that that woman is a farmer and that woman says that this feels like salt in a wound that is only beginning to heal. She does that — she does not seem to want these tariffs at all. I mean, the President has acknowledged that Americans could feel some pain with these tariffs with this announcement. How much pain is the President comfortable with Americans feeling even on a temporary basis?

LEAVITT: Well, again to that wonderful American farmer, the President has your back and he wants to protect you and your family-owned farm. That is the point of these tariffs. As far as —

BOLDUAN: Are you going to do anything to ease the pain?

LEAVITT: Well, absolutely. We’re working on that every single day. The American people and the naysayers need to look at the whole of government economic approach that this administration is taking. The President has already launched a massive deregulatory agenda, which we know has saved the American taxpayer millions of dollars. He is also unleashing the might of our American energy industry, which we know is the greatest driver of inflation. It’s one of the many reasons we had an inflation crisis in the previous administration.

The President is unleashing American energy to bring down the cost of living in this country. We also know again in the president’s first term, while he effectively implemented tariffs, wages went up. The median wage in America went up by $6500.

And so it is the goal of this president to have higher wages, less inflation and tax cuts. That’s the second step of the Trump economic agenda. More money back into the pockets of hardworking American. No taxes on tips, overtime or Social Security. We’re counting on Congress to get it done. And that’s the next step of the Trump economic boom.

BOLDUAN: On taxes, JP Morgan just came out with an analysis in response to this tariff announcement, saying that these tariffs will be the largest tax hike on Americans since 1968. A tax hike by $660 billion a year. What is JP Morgan missing? What are world markets getting wrong? What — what are — when you see stock futures down, what is everyone missing, including that local farmer in North Carolina?

LEAVITT: Well, they’re missing the massive revenue that these tariffs are going to bring into the United States. Trillions and trillions of dollars in investment, which leads to more jobs in American communities, higher wages —

BOLDUAN: But on immediate, Karoline, I’m sorry to interrupt, but on the immediate. I mean, in the most immediate, I mean, these farmers, as Thom Tillis says, farmers are one crop away from bankruptcy. That farmer doesn’t have time to wait for tariffs to work their way into the system, the benefit of it to work its way into the system at all.

This is going to mean higher prices for Americans in the most immediate. That’s why I asked the question. How much pain on a temporary basis is OK? What’s the standard that the President is looking at in terms of how much pain Americans can feel on a temporary basis that he’s OK with?

LEAVITT: Again, the President is focused every single day on lowering the cost of living in this country while simultaneously implementing these very effective tariffs. Massive deregulation, energy boom and tax cuts are the economic formula that will mean more prosperity and the lower cost of living. And it’s a proven formula.