Trump and his allies hint at economic pain ahead for Americans
President Donald Trump and his allies have begun suggesting that some economic pain could be ahead for Americans, as the administration carries out plans to slap tariffs on billions of dollars of goods coming into the U.S. and fire thousands of federal workers across the country.
President Donald Trump and his allies have begun suggesting that some economic pain could be ahead for Americans, as the administration carries out plans to slap tariffs on billions of dollars of goods coming into the U.S. and fire thousands of federal workers across the country.
Trump warned Americans in his speech to Congress this week to expect a “little disturbance” from his plan to impose sweeping tariffs on billions of dollars in goods. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there will be a “detox period” as the economy shifts away from government spending. And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that prices on some items would be going up as a result of tariffs — though he said overall inflation would not increase.
While Trump and top administration officials have framed any economic pain from their policies as short-term hits that are necessary to improve the economy in the long run, their comments go against the optimistic, fast-fix rhetoric Trump deployed on the campaign trail. Trump said in August that on his first day in office he would “end inflation and make America affordable again,” and he denied that tariffs would raise prices for consumers.
The more tempered comments from Trump and his Cabinet come amid mixed signs for the economy. The U.S. added fewer jobs than economists had expected in February, as cuts by the federal government offset some of the hiring gains by private employers. The unemployment rate climbed slightly to 4.1% from 4.0% the month before. Stocks across the major indexes were on track to end the week lower.
Trump told Americans during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday that “there’ll be a little disturbance. But we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.” Directly addressing the impact farmers could feel from retaliatory tariffs already being placed on U.S. agricultural products, as they were during his first term, Trump said “they will probably have to bear with me again.”
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