President Donald Trump and “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker sparred over tariffs and the economy Sunday, with the president blasting the “dishonest interview” to the host’s face.
“This is such a dishonest interview already. Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil prices are down for oil. Energy prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline,” Trump said when pressed on his tariff policies.
When pressed by Welker about rising costs on items such as tires and strollers, he dismissed price increases on such goods as “peanuts compared to energy,” which the president claimed his policies have made cheaper. Gas prices hit their peak during Biden’s sole term in office at an average of $5.06 per gallon in June 2022, the highest on record. The price of gas has steadily dropped since then, and the average national price of gas today is roughly $3.16 a gallon, according to AAA.
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“Strollers are going up. What kind of a thing? I’m saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or something,” Trump said.
Trump made headlines during his cabinet meeting on Wednesday when he remarked that “maybe children will have two dolls instead of thirty dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more” as a result of his tariff policies. He denied the tariffs would result in empty store shelves, but did acknowledge that some Americans may need to cut down on their purchases.
“The don’t need to have 250 pencils, they can have five… I’m basically saying we don’t have to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don’t need, for junk that we don’t need.”
LIBERATION DAY AND TRUMP TARIFFS ARE NOT THE END OF TRADE. IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING
Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on virtually every country America does business with on April 2, on what he refers to as “Liberation Day,” in addition to a 10% global tariff. The levies applied to friend and foe alike, with Vietnam being slapped with a 46% tariff and Israel receiving 17% tariffs on goods exported to the United States.
Trump swiftly reversed course a few days later in the face of a stock market nosedive and bond market worries, pausing the reciprocal tariffs. He maintained the 10% global tariff as well as a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, however. Mexico and Canada are facing separate 25% tariffs related to the fentanyl crisis.
Trump maintained that his tariffs would “make us rich” and that the country was already profiting from them. He said that Americans were already feeling economic relief due to declining mortgage rates and energy prices.
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“Mortgage rates are going down, despite the fact that we have a stubborn fed… I can tell you that we’re making a lot of money. We’re doing great. Again, we’re losing more than $5 billion a day, $5 billion a day. You don’t talk about that. And right now we’re going to be at a point very soon where we’re making money every day,” Trump said.
Trump shot down Welker’s claim, saying that Wall Street insiders were worried about a recession, and said he has spoken to many on Wall Street who are saying that his tariffs will be a boon for the economy.
