More than half of Americans are concerned that President Donald Trump’s tariff plan will end up costing them money, the president brushed off concerns Friday as he delivered remarks from the Oval Office on a number of issues.
“I think the United States is going to do record business,” Trump said. He added that he believes that “globalists are not going to like,” the tariffs because he expects them to help bring more jobs into the U.S.
During his address to Congress Tuesday night, Trump also defended the tariffs, though he admitted that they might contribute to some “price disturbances.” When asked about that Friday, the president said that he has already “solved a little bit of that,” by agreeing to some tariff exceptions for auto companies. However, reports have indicated that the tariffs could contribute to rising gas prices and more.
Reuters reported Friday that recession risks are rising for North America in the wake of the tariffs, based on its poll of economists. An Economist/YouGov poll conducted before Trump’s Tuesday speech also found that 54% of Americans believe that the costs of the tariffs will mostly be borne by companies and people in the U.S. Pluralities opposed most tariffs, with the exception being a 10% tariff on goods imported from China.
“More Americans now say the economy has worsened since Trump took office in his second term than said so in April 2017 about his first term up to that point (37% vs. 22%),” said YouGov. It added that even Republican perceptions regarding how Trump is handling the economy have grown more negative compared to his first term.
Despite concerns about the looming impact of the tariffs, Trump was able to tout positive numbers from the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics Jobs Report covering his first full month in office. He said that his team has been able to “rapidly reverse” a “manufacturing collapse” in the U.S.
“We created 10,000 manufacturing jobs in February alone. We haven’t done that in a very long time,” said Trump Friday. He added that it is “a very unusual number… people are very surprised by it – I’m even a little surprised by it.”
Per the BLS report, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in February, and the unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.1%
“Employment trended up in health care, financial activities, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance,” said the report. “Federal government employment declined.”
Since Trump took office, he has worked to cut government spending in part through highly publicized mass firings related to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Trump’s multi-billionaire ally, Elon Musk. However, some of those layoffs have been met with lawsuits.