US President Donald Trump will attend the White House Script Summit on March 7, 2025 at the White House in Washington, DC.
Evelyn Hockstein |Reuters
President Donald Trump has dismissed business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs and higher price prospects on the scope of American trading partners, and has not ruled out the possibility of a recession this year.
After a quick pause with a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada that have overturned markets over trade war concerns, President Trump said the broader “mutual” tariff plans will come into effect on April 2, in line with what other countries will value.
“On April 2nd, it’s all going to be mutual,” he said in a recorded interview with Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “What they charge us, we charge them.”
Trump appeared to have an impact on US growth, as asked about the Atlanta federal government’s warning of economic contraction in the first quarter of the year. Still, he ultimately insisted that it was “great for us.”
“There’s a transition period because what we’re doing is so big,” Trump said. “It’s going to take a little time. It’s going to take a little time.”
On Wall Street, there was wild shaking dominated by economic worries and uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs, and it was a tough week.
Trump has been paying concerns from companies seeking stability when making investment decisions. He said, “For years, globalists, big globalists have taken America,” and now, “All we’re doing is getting it back and we’re going to treat our country fairly.”
“You know, tariffs can go up over time, and they may go up, and I don’t know if that’s predictable,” the Republican president said.
Trump lifted Mexico and Canada’s tariffs on American automakers last week, and since then lifted virtually all imports to the US, but retained goods from China.
More tariffs will be incurred this week, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying that NBC’s “Meet the Press” and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will come into effect Wednesday. Lutnick said Trump’s threatened tariffs are threatened by Canadian dairy products and timber, but will wait until April.
“Are there any distortions? Of course,” Rutnik said. “Foreign products may be a little more expensive, but American products will be cheaper, and you will be helping Americans by buying Americans.”
