By: Katie Dusza, Contributor
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo, host of the Fox News segment “Sunday Morning Features,” President Donald Trump was asked if he anticipated a recession in his first term of presidency, which he was unable to confirm or deny.
The Trump economic policy includes aggressive tariffs on trade partners of the United States. These tariffs on Canadian, Chinese and Mexican imports appear to have been hurting the economy as of recently.
At the beginning of March, Trump ended up pausing his 25% tariff on cars. This caused disruptions in the stock market and worries from leading automobile companies about the future of the industry.
In a conference call between the president and executives from leading auto companies such as General Motors, Ford Motors and Stellantisand, the executives talked to Trump about how the tariffs are hurting their profits. Trump is now removing the auto tariff for one month so the car industry can move their production back into the United States and avoid the tariffs.
Despite this turbulence Trump's tariffs have caused in the stock market, he is adamant on planning to add even more tariffs. His newest tariff put in place on March 12 is a 25% tariff on aluminum and steel from other countries.
These tariffs immensely affect the auto industry due to their reliance on these two key resources. Trump justifies these tariffs as an opportunity to promote more jobs in the United States as well as to prioritize national security. However, this tariff proves to be unfavorable to US manufacturers. According to a statement put out by the Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers, “the U.S. does not produce enough steel or aluminum to meet domestic demand.”
These tariffs cause concerns for the American government; they are not proving to mend the economy the way that Trump intended them to. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell more than 3% as the stock market had its worst week in six months, which economists connect to Trump’s tariffs. These tariffs also cause concerns about a potential trade war and other impacts on international relations.
Trump plans on adding more tariffs on April 2. He calls them “reciprocal” tariffs on our other trade partners. Trump explains them in simple terms: “what they charge us, we charge them.”
However, these tariffs may push the United States into a recession. When asked about this by Bartiromo, Trump stated that he “hated to predict things like that.” But, he expressed that there will be a transitional period because what is happening is “big.”