Veteran AP reporter Josh Boak took a bold step into contentious territory during a recent press briefing, confronting White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a challenging question that quickly escalated tensions.

As the stock market continued to plummet and the administration faced mounting scrutiny over its handling of the so-called “Gulf of America,” Boak asked Leavitt directly if she had ever paid a tariff. The question, while straightforward, struck a nerve and set the stage for a fiery exchange.

An Associated Press reporter taxed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s patience when he asked her Tuesday if she had ever paid a tariff.

The clash came amid tanking stock market and a battle with the press over the ‘Gulf of America’, as the press briefing took a personal tone.

It happened when Leavitt called on the reporter from the AP – an outlet the White House has banned from ‘pooled’ Oval Office visits and Air Force One trips amid fury over the wire service’s refusal to adopt Trump’s renaming of the Gulf.

By the time it ended, an ‘insulted’ Leavitt said she regretted calling on the reporter in the first place.

The reporter, Josh Boak, was among several who pressed Leavitt on the plummeting stock market, amid massive uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs – on a day the president said he would double levies on steel and aluminum and Ontario imposed and then suspended a tariff on energy it sends to the U.S.

He asked Leavitt about an upcoming Trump speech to the Business Roundtable.

‘He’s going there today as he’s proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs. And I’m curious he’s not for why he’s prioritizing that over the tax cuts,’ the reporter asked, echoing business criticism that has crept into the discourse amid market jitters.

‘Not true – he’s not doing that,’ Leavitt interrupted the question.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was ‘insulted’ by a reporter who asked her: ‘Have you ever paid a tariff?’

Leavitt is “insulted” by AP questioning of Trump’s Tariff

‘Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the President is a staunch advocate of tax cuts,’ Leavitt, 27, told him.

‘I’m sorry. Have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have,’ the AP reporter tried to needle her. ‘They don’t get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers.’

Leavitt started off her response by talking policy.

‘Ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades. As I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again,’ said Leavitt.

Some economists have argued there could be downside risks, like higher inflation, slower growth, an escalating trade war, or even a recession.

‘And I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this President has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press,’ she said.

The tense exchange came on a day Trump addressed the Business Roundtable after markets tanked again

The Trump White House has been blacklisting the AP over its stylebook and the refusal to adopt Trump’s renamed ‘Gulf of America’

Her deputy, Harrison Fields, chimed in that the reporter, AP’s Josh Boak, ‘= activist NOT journalist,’ indicating that all is not forgiven.

Economists argue that importers typically will pass on much of the cost of the tariffs they must pay to the Treasury to consumers, although Trump and his team say it will force more manufacturing back into the country, setting off a new ‘Golden Age.’

The emotion in the exchange echoed the clash between Trump and Canadian officials, with both Trump and Leavitt saying repeatedly that Canada should become a U.S. state.

After Ontario announced the tax on electricity, Trump hit back: ‘They will pay a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!’

Soon after the kerfuffle in the briefing room, the president explained that further tariffs he threatened to slap on Canada would no longer go forward.

The White House took the day’s tariff clash as a win.

‘After President Trump threatened to use his executive powers to retaliate with a colossal 50 percent tariff against Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke with [Commerce] Secretary Lutnick to convey that he is backing down on implementing a 25 percent charge on electricity exports to the United States. President Trump has once again used the leverage of the American economy, which is the best and biggest in the world, to deliver a win for the American people,’ said White House spokesman Kush Desai.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up down 1.14 percent for the day, with the broader S&P 500 down three-quarters of a percent, after suffering the worst week of the year last week.