President Trump's top aides ran to protect his vast global tariffs on Sunday, downplaying the prospect that his new taxes on imports could cause a massive surge in prices and plunge the US economy into a painful recession.
When Trump left Mar Arago for another day when he played golf at his club in Jupiter, Florida, his key economic advisers dismissed the turmoil that was unlocked in financial markets around the world, claiming that the president's trade war would ultimately improve the country's economic fate.
But they also sent another round of mixed signals to the extent Trump views tariffs as a negotiating tool.
“The tariffs are coming, and of course they are,” said Commerce Howard Lutnick, CBS's “seeing the face.”
A 10% baseline tariff on almost all of Trump's trading partners came into effect Saturday morning. Another tariff aimed at punishing the US and countries that operate the trade deficit will snap into place Wednesday morning.
Kevin Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council, said that even if he admitted that the ABC's “this week” appearance “may increase” as a result of the fees, he doesn't think it would have a major impact on US consumers.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent short-term rejected a sharp decline in global markets last week, highlighting the need for a US economic “adjusting process.” He added that NBC “meets the press” as the administration works to “build a long-term economic foundation for prosperity.”
“We're going to hold a course,” he said.
It gives us peace of mind as Trump continues to attack rebelliously against recent tariffs. On Saturday, 10% Levy came into effect, so the president told his followers about the true society.
Trump argues that his tariffs can reset trade relations, which he sees as unfair and harmful to American jobs and industries, by reviving domestic manufacturing. He also hopes that taxation will raise new revenues and help him pay for the costs of his financial agenda.
However, his trade policy sparked substantial broad blowbacks, leading even US allies to blame Washington.
Last week, China announced a slate of aggressive retaliation measures that raised the possibility of a sustainable, economically damaging trade war. Other countries are looking to negotiate lower rates. Vietnam is facing a 46% tariff rate that makes its US trading partner partners one of the highest areas, seeking a 45-day delay and suggesting to drop its own tariffs to zero.
The president's top aide, instigating on Sunday's news show circuit, responded to the fallout by boasting that he had already heard of it from dozens of countries that wanted to discuss trade.
“Listen, we have 50 countries burning telephone lines in the White House,” said Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins at CNN's “Allics.” She said Trump's tariffs left some countries “deeply and willing” to cut transactions.
However, the White House sent a contradictory message about its true appetite for negotiations. Last week, Trump proposed that transactions could be cut in exchange for “superficial” returns, but on Saturday, tariffs were “staying here.”
Bescent asked if Trump was willing to cut transactions, suggesting that there is room to negotiate, but nothing will happen soon. “They've been bad actors for a long time, and that's not something you can negotiate in days or weeks,” he said.
The confusion is rarely going to save investors' fears as the market prepares to open Monday. It was the worst weekly decline for the S&P 500 since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
At one point, Trump appeared to suggest that market disruption was part of his strategy. He distributed videos from another user about the true society that the president claims is “deliberately crashing” the market and “deliberately crashing” the market in order to force the Federal Reserve.
Pushing the issue, Hassett first responded on Sunday, saying the Fed was independent before adding, “He's not trying to compete in the market.”
The recent wild spinning has scared even some Republicans on Capitol Hill. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican of Nebraska, predicted that deeper losses could convince members of his party to support a bill that would help Congress regain some of its power over tariffs.
“It's time for Congress to recover the authorities here,” he said CBS's “facing the people.”
Alan Rappyport, Minho Kim and Michael Gold I contributed to this story.
