Despite facing criticism and experiencing a highly uncertain stock market since implementing his economic policies, President Donald Trump remains firm on his stance regarding international tariffs.
During an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, the president did not offer any comfort to the American public when questioned about potential economic difficulties and market volatility.
On his 100th day back in office, Trump reiterated his campaign promises regarding a transitional period and expressed that these changes were inevitable.
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.’
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’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.
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.
