The mood inside the White House is said to be tense and verging toward panic with just days to go before President Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed ‘Liberation Day’ on April 2.
Trump is expected to unveil sweeping new tariffs on America’s global trading partners on Wednesday, but the people tasked with implementing his agenda admit they’re operating in a fog of uncertainty.
Behind closed doors, top administration officials are deeply concerned, with many quietly admitting they’re unsure what the president is actually going to do.
‘No one knows what the f*** is going on,’ one White House ally close to Trump’s inner circle told Politico.
From the vice president to the Cabinet, from financial markets to foreign capitals, the Trump administration’s aggressive new tariff push is triggering anxieties on a global scale with even Trump’s staunchest allies are bracing for a chaotic rollout.
The president has signaled that more than $1 trillion in trade could be affected.
But with less than a week to go, even the most basic details including which countries will be hit, at what rates, and for which goods, remain undecided or constantly shifting.
White House officials have spent the past several weeks privately assuring business leaders, financial executives, and Republican lawmakers that a clearer, more stable trade agenda is coming.
One goal is to calm markets rattled by previous tariff announcements that has caused the S&P 500 to shed all gains made since November’s Election Day.
The mood inside the White House is said to be tense and verging toward panic with just days to go before President Donald Trump ‘s self-proclaimed ‘Liberation Day’ on April 2
Behind closed doors, top administration officials are deeply concerned, with many quietly admitting they’re unsure what the president is actually going to do
But behind the public messaging lies a far more chaotic reality.
Trump has repeatedly overridden or contradicted his own advisers on trade policy.
Officials like Vice President J.D. Vance, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have pushed for a smaller, more targeted tariff plan, or at least a structured rollout that allows businesses to prepare.
But the president has fluctuated wildly between levies on specific sectors and blanket tariffs on all countries.
‘We may have sectoral tariffs on April 2, and we may not,’ said one White House official this week to Politico, granted anonymity due to ongoing deliberations. ‘No final decisions have been made yet.’
Even core strategic decisions appear to remain unsettled.
Administration officials have floated the idea of calculating tariffs ‘reciprocally,’ based on how countries treat US exports – but the president has shown little interest in the technicalities.
Earlier this week he blindsided his staff with a sudden 25% tariff on auto imports, forcing the White House to delay afternoon programming and scramble to formalize the decision.
The White House didn’t brief domestic or international industry stakeholders beforehand.
Officials like Vice President J.D. Vance, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have pushed for a smaller, more targeted tariff plan
Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett recently told industry leaders that only 10 to 15 countries – dubbed the ‘dirty 15’- would face tariffs
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and senior adviser Peter Navarro have long been in favor of tariffs
One official reportedly brushed off concerns, saying if companies were ‘smart,’ they would have anticipated the move based on Trump’s public comments.
Even as Trump insists that Americans and global partners will be ‘pleasantly surprised’ by what he now calls ‘somewhat conservative’ tariffs, markets are rattled by the inconsistency.
The president’s declaration that April 2 would be ‘Liberation Day’ he has done little to clarify the specific policies.
‘I may give a lot of countries breaks,’ Trump said. ‘We might be even nicer than that.’
Days earlier, he insisted ‘every country will be hit with a tariff’ leaving analysts and foreign governments scrambling to adapt at a moments notice.
‘I think it would be a mistake to think next week all of a sudden we’re going to get a bunch of clarity,’ said Tom Graff, chief investment officer at Facet.
‘I’m sure they’re trying to reset with financial markets and build some certainty, but I don’t think the president is going to have a personality transplant.’
Even Trump’s inner circle is trying to hedge. Bessent and economic adviser Kevin Hassett recently told industry leaders that only 10 to 15 countries – dubbed the ‘dirty 15’- would face tariffs.
Earlier this week Trump blindsided his staff with a sudden 25% tariff on auto imports, forcing the White House to delay afternoon programming and scramble to formalize the decision
But Trump publicly overruled them and indicated a broader sweep of penalties would come in, reportedly infuriating some within his cabinet.
Within the administration, a power struggle appears to be playing out between two camps: those advocating for a restrained, strategic approach to tariffs, and those fueling the president’s instinct for economic confrontation.
On one side are figures such as Vance, Wiles, and Bessent, who have urged discipline and predictability.
On the other side are Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and senior adviser Peter Navarro, the latter a long-time tariff evangelist.
Navarro has described the administration as operating in harmony, quoting the 2002 film Drumline: ‘One band, one sound.’
‘We are the greatest economic team and April 2nd will be a historic day for American workers,’ Lutnick said.
But others inside the administration are less certain of Lutnick’s motivations.
‘He goes into the Oval and tells the president whatever he wants to hear,’ said one Trump ally, calling Lutnick a ‘f***ing nightmare’ who backs Trump’s instincts without considering broader consequences.
Lutnick’s influence appears to be growing, even as concerns mount that his approach is untethered from policy grounding.
As the April 2 deadline looms, inflation continues to rise, according to new Commerce Department data released on Friday – even before the new tariffs take effect.
Republican lawmakers are watching with alarm but concede they have no ability to influence Trump’s direction
‘This is Trump, not anyone else,’ said Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). ‘We don’t have the ability to do anything other than complain,’ added Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
Consumer sentiment, measured by the University of Michigan, is falling rapidly.
Business owners fear supply chains will be wrecked overnight, especially if tariffs target sensitive industries like pharmaceuticals, copper, and semiconductors.
Some Trump aides are holding out hope that upcoming trade reports due on April 1, mandated by a Day One executive order, could narrow the president’s scope.
Others quietly hope Trump’s affection for the stock market might steer him away from a broader economic shock.
‘The president isn’t looking at it like they are,’ said a source close to the inner circle.
‘If the economy tanks, then fine, the economy tanks – because the president truly believes that it will rebound and the countries will give in.’
Publicly officials are repeating well-polished lines about revitalizing American industry and restoring greatness, but privately, they admit they are flying blind, held hostage to a volatile process led by a president determined to follow his gut
The same person added that Trump sees little downside politically: ‘No. 1, the president is not running for reelection. And No. 2, we’re probably gonna lose the House in the midterms.’
On Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers are watching with alarm but concede they have no ability to influence Trump’s direction.
‘This is Trump, not anyone else,’ said Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
‘We don’t have the ability to do anything other than complain,’ added Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) was blunt in his warning: ‘If tariffs did have an inflationary impact – or an impact on interest rates that caused inflation and the economy moved toward a recession – that would be a very bad thing… It would turn the Trump presidency from a four year term into a two year term, because we’d lose in the midterms.’
Publicly officials are repeating well-polished lines about revitalizing American industry and restoring greatness, but privately, they admit they are flying blind, held hostage to a volatile process led by a president determined to follow his gut.
In the past Trump has declared tariffs to be ‘the most beautiful word in the dictionary.’
As one official said behind closed doors, ‘We’re bracing for anything.’
