- President Donald Trump downplayed fears of an economic recession in a Fox News interview.
- Trump said that the US economy will face a “period of transition” while it adjusts to his tariffs.
- Economists predict Trump’s tariffs may increase inflation without boosting US manufacturing.
President Donald Trump downplayed economic uncertainty over his tariffs, saying a “period of transition” is headed for the US economy as it adjusts. But he notably did not rule out a recession in the near future.
Trump paused his 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada earlier this week, just after they went into effect. In an interview on the Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump said he paused his planned tariffs on Mexico and Canada to help American car manufacturers and “to a certain extent,” to help both countries. Trump paused the tariffs until April 2.
“I wanted to help the American car makers until April 2,” Trump said on Fox. “April 2, it becomes all reciprocal. What they charge us, we charge them.”
After a strong start to the year, the stock market has seen significant volatility in recent weeks. This week, the market saw considerable uncertainty, with the S&P 500 down as much as 2% on Thursday following tariff concerns.
Still, Trump downplayed fears over a possible recession in the Fox interview. When asked if he expected a recession in 2025, Trump responded: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America.”
“It takes a little time,” he added.
Trump also avoided questions about providing clarity for publicly owned businesses about how his tariffs could disrupt the economy.
“They have plenty of clarity,” he said. “They just use that. That’s like, almost a sound bite. They always say that, ‘we want clarity,'” Trump told Fox about business asking for economic clarity.
Trump paused tariffs impacting US auto manufacturers on March 5 after Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors called the president requesting a reprieve. When pressed by Fox about what “automakers are going to do for a month” while the tariffs are paused, Trump said that this is a “transition period.”
“I said, ‘look, I’m going to do it this one time, but after that, I’m not doing it,'” Trump told Fox. “They called me and they wanted help during this little transition period, and I gave it to them.”
Economists are still grappling with the impact of Trump’s tariffs, which some economists say will increase inflation. Some analysts say that Trump’s tariffs will not help increase manufacturing in the United States.
“Tariffs will not increase US manufacturing: technology, rather than trade, has been primarily responsible for the fifty-year decline in manufacturing jobs,” John Veroneau, a former deputy US trade representative, wrote in a February 11 post on the Council on Foreign Relations website.
