President Donald Trump doubled-down on his international tariff plans despite widespread disapproval and a wildly unpredictable stock market since he launched the economic policy.
The president did not offer any reassurance to voters when ABC News’ Terry Moran asked if Americans will be forced to ‘hang tough’ through economic hardship and a volatile market.
‘I said all of these things during my campaign – I said, you’re going to have a transition period,’ Trump said in a sit-down interview airing on his 100th day back in the Oval Office.
Moran said: ‘There is a lot of concern out there. People are worried, even some people who voted for you saying, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ So how do you answer those concerns?’
‘Well, they did sign up for it, actually,’ Trump insisted. ‘And this is what I campaigned on. I said that we’ve been abused by other countries at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.’
The president added: ‘I could’ve left it that way, and at some point, there would’ve been an implosion like nobody’s ever seen. But I said, ‘No, we have to fix it.’ I’ve — I’ve wanted to do this for many years.’
President Donald Trump said in his 100-day interview that Americans need to be patient with the economy and claims prices are and will continue to come down
President Trump speaks on his first 100 days in Warren, Michigan
‘Since I came in, gasoline is down, groceries are down, egg prices are down,’ Trump claimed
He went on to reassure Americans by listing the items where prices have decreased since January – including on gasoline and eggs.
‘Hard times are ahead?’ Moran posed.
‘I don’t think so,’ Trump replied, and predicted: ‘I think great times are ahead.’
‘Since I came in, gasoline is down, groceries are down, egg prices are down,’ he claimed. ‘Many things are down, just about everything.’
But Americans aren’t feeling the relief in their wallets.
Trump revealed he put a 90-day pause on his global tariffs because people were ‘getting yippie’ about it.
Stock markets tanked after Trump started his trade war and the president admitted he had been watching the collapse.
‘I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippie, you know, getting a little bit yippie, a little bit afraid,’ he said at the White House in early April.
‘Is that what Americans should expect? Some hard times?’ ABC News anchor Terry Moran asked Trump as they sat down in the Oval Office for an interview on his 100th day back in office
Trump appeared to be referring to the ‘yips’ – when golfers start twitching and missing putts.
He added: ‘The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s it’s beautiful. The bond market right now is beautiful. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.’
The president called the time period the ‘transition to greatness.’
Additionally, he might consider exempting some US companies from the tariffs over the 90-day pause period, he noted, adding his thinking on that would be made ‘instinctively.’
Trump’s walk-back on tariffs earlier in April caused a polling fallout where the president saw his lowest-yet approval rating since getting back into office.
The president’s approval in a new Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll released on Monday fell a significant nine points from 54 percent on April 17 – when his popularity was at a record high – to 45 percent this week.
The decline is universal with voters increasingly concerned by price and economic issues that were critical to Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.
Six in ten say the economy is bad or getting worse, including 49 percent of Republicans.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak on his first 100 days at Macomb County Community College Sports Expo Center
The president held a rally in Michigan to celebrate his first 100 days
Many believe food, and their favorite products, are getting more expensive – even though Trump claims prices are coming down.
Trump wrote on his social media platform that ‘it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic’ when it comes to his plan to bring down the cost of living.
‘You said that to the American people,’ Moran said in reference to the post. ‘Is that what Americans should expect? Some hard times?’
‘I’ve said that during my campaign,’ Trump replied. ‘Look, we won a campaign by a lot. We won all seven swing states. We won the popular vote by a lot. You know, we had a tremendous campaign.’
‘I said all of these things during my campaign. I said, ‘You’re going to have a transition period.”
‘We’ve been ripped off by every country all over the world,’ he continued. ‘They’re laughing at us. They thought we were stupid people, and we were. And I said, ‘That’s not going to happen. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Trump revealed on his April 2 ‘Liberation Day’ event at the White House his plans to impose sweeping and significant tariffs on other nations.
He claims the U.S. has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to international trade agreements – and he wants to right the ship.
Elsewhere in the interview, the president defended his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after a tumultuous month at the Pentagon
The president spoke about how he had counseled the Defense Secretary during a series of leaks and an internal investigation that led to several top officials being fired
Elsewhere in the interview, the president defended his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after a tumultuous month at the Pentagon.
Moran asked Trump if he had ‘100 percent confidence’ in Hegseth and Trump immediately snapped back.
‘I don’t have a hundred percent confidence in anything, OK? Anything. Do I have a hundred percent? It’s a stupid question.’
‘It’s a pretty important position,’ Moran replied.
‘No, no, no. You don’t have a hundred percent. Only a liar would say, ‘I have a hundred percent confidence.’ I don’t have a hundred percent confidence that we’re gonna finish this interview,’ Trump said.
Moran tried to diffuse the situation, joking: ‘we will.’
The president spoke about how he had counseled the Defense Secretary during a series of leaks and an internal investigation that led to several top officials being fired.
‘I had a talk with him, and whatever I said I probably wouldn’t be inclined to tell you but we had a good talk. He’s a talented guy. He’s young. He’s smart, highly educated. And I think he’s gonna be a very good defense—hopefully a great defense secretary,’ he said.
The president brought a team of surprise guests to a rally in Michigan on Tuesday evening to mark the first 100 days of his second term.
He is staging his largest public event since returning to the White House in a state that has been especially rocked by his steep trade tariffs.
Trump invited a pair of administration personnel to the stage – Special Assistant to the President and Communications Advisor Margo Martin and homeland security advisor and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
The president celebrated the 100th day of his second term – yet spent much of his rally marking it in campaign mode, fixated on past grudges and grievances.
He repeatedly mocked his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, attacking his mental acuity and even how he appears in a bathing suit.
Trump again and again returned to immigration, his signature issue, at the rally that marked his largest political event since returning to the White House – boasting about his administration’s ‘mass deportation’ efforts that have sent arrests for illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico plummeting .
