Trump calls his tariffs “medical” after he erases trillions of dollars in U.S. stock market
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that foreign governments must pay “a lot of money” to raise the overall tariffs he characterized as “medical” as financial markets show a week that could be hit with huge losses.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he was not worried about having eliminated nearly $6 trillion in market losses from U.S. stocks.
“I don’t want anything to fall down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.
Trump said he spoke with leaders in Europe and Asia over the weekend, hoping to convince him to lower the tariffs to 50% as they take effect this week.
“They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but unless they pay a lot of money each year, there is no words.”
Trump’s tariff announcement last week shocked economies around the world, sparking retaliatory taxation from China and raising concerns about a global trade war and recession.
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On Sunday morning talk show, the president’s top economic adviser tried to describe tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the United States in the global trade order.
They are also trying to minimize the economic shocks of last week’s turbulent launch. Wall Street stock futures opened on Sunday was a sign of further turmoil.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that more than 50 countries have begun negotiations with the United States since the announcement last Wednesday.
“He created the greatest leverage for himself,” Bessent on NBC’s See the media.
Neither Bessent nor other officials named the countries or provided details about the negotiations. But negotiating with multiple administrations simultaneously could pose a logistical challenge to the Trump administration and to extend economic uncertainty.
Bessent said there was no “no reason” to expect a recession, as U.S. jobs growth ahead of tariffs announced last month was higher.
Economists at JPMorgan Chase now estimate that tariffs will drop U.S. GDP for the full year by 0.3%, below an earlier estimate of 1.3% growth, while unemployment will rise to 5.3% from its current 4.2%.
The Republican president spent a weekend in Florida, playing golf and released a video of his swing on Sunday.
Some countries seek probation
U.S. Customs agents began charging Trump’s unilateral 10% tariffs on Saturday from all imports in many countries. The higher “reciprocity” tariff rates for each country will take effect at 11% to 50% on Wednesday at 12:01 AM ET. Some governments have shown their willingness to interact with the United States to avoid responsibilities.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te provided zero tariffs on Sunday as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers and said Taiwanese companies would boost their U.S. investment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would seek 17% tariffs on the country’s goods at a planned meeting with Trump on Monday.
An Indian government official told Reuters that the country does not intend to retaliate against the 26% tariff and said it had negotiated with the United States to hold talks on a possible deal.
The market looks likely to accumulate further
The market where tariffs continue faces another week of potential turmoil after the worst week of U.S. stocks since the Covid-19 crisis five years ago.
The S&P Comprehensive 1500 index is one of the most extensive measures in the U.S. market, and since mid-February, the U.S. has eliminated nearly $100 trillion, which has dealt a major blow to the retirement nest eggs of millions of Americans.
U.S. President Donald Trump showed no signs of retreating from tariffs even after Dow Jones scored 2,200 points (the worst close since 2020), and global markets were in trouble the next day, raising concerns about prolonging the global recession.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett denied that tariffs are part of Trump’s strategic collapse of financial markets to force the U.S. Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. He said the central bank would not have “political coercion”.
In a Truth Society post on Friday, Trump shared a video suggesting that his tariffs were intended to hammer stocks deliberately to force lower interest rates.
Social media posts have sparked global debate over whether Trump’s tariffs are part of a permanent tariff regime or simply a negotiation strategy, which could lead other countries to reduce tariffs through discounts.
