President Trump weighed in on a drop in the stock market during his first 100 days – blaming President Biden and defending his tariffs that have spooked investors and dinged his approval rating.
Trump termed it a ‘Biden overhang’, in a post that followed a series of 100-day wrap up pieces – including one by the Wall Street Journal editorial staff noting that it was the worst performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 since Richard Nixon.
‘This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social site.
‘I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden “Overhang.”’
Trump tried to provide more reassurance, on a day U.S. economic growth was negative for the first quarter since 2022.
‘This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!’
Trump’s call for patience comes amid a spate of polling that put his approval rating the lowest at this period for any U.S. president in decades.
President Trump blamed the stock market drop during his first 100 days on his predecessor and said it had ‘nothing’ to do with tariffs
His approval for this period is the worst of any president in 80 years, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
It also showed public disapproval, sometimes as high as 60 percent, on top issues including his tariffs.
The stock numbers are grim, after indexes took a deep dive when Trump announced his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. They climbed back after Trump announced a pauses and exceptions, including one timed to his Tuesday trip to Michigan that would prevent automakers from getting slapped with a double tariff of 25% each – one on auto parts, and another on steel and aluminum.
As of Tuesday, the Dow was down 6.8 percent since Inauguration Day. The broader S&P was down 7.3 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 11 percent.
Trump celebrated his first 100 days with a trip to battleground Michigan and a media tour, but polls show his negative approval rating is the worst in 80 years, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll
‘Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden “Overhang,”‘ said Trump, defending the tariffs that have disrupted supply chains
Trump called it ‘Biden’s stock market,’ although back in 2024, when Biden was president, Trump tried to take credit for stock gains, saying it was due to his performance in the polls
Although he blamed Biden for stock losses during his first 100 days, Trump has long tried to take credit for stock gains – even when he was out of office.
That’s what he tried to do in January 2024. ‘This is the Trump stock market because my polls against Biden are so good that investors are projecting that I will win,’ he posted then during a market boom.
The ABC poll had Trump’s approval at just 39 percent, down 6 percent from February, with 55 percent disapproval.
One data point flashing in red is the economy, which along with immigration helped propel Trump’s election win.
Seventy-two percent said it is very or somewhat likely his economic policies would cause a recession, with 53 percent saying the economy has gotten worse since he took office. Even a 51 percent majority of Republicans say his policies will cause a recession.
The same poll showed Americans disapproving of his tariffs 64 to 34 percent. On the question of ‘looking out for the interests of average Americans,’ the poll gave Trump 41 percent approval, compared to 58 percent disapproval.
On managing the federal government amid a spate of DOGE firings, Trump had 42 percent approval and 57 percent disapproval.
The tariffs also appear to be hitting the Gross Domestic Product metric, due to a surge of imports business brought in in anticipation of the tariffs.
Since imports get subtracted from output, GDP fell 0.3 percent for the quarter at an annualized rate.
