Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed growing fears of a recession and the market plunge from President Trump’s tariffs as he vowed Sunday that “we’re going to hold the course.”
Bessent and other top Trump administrationofficials blitzed the Sunday morning shows to defend the tariffs Trump unveiled last week that have wiped $6 trillion off US stock markets. They were adamant that the US wouldn’t suffer a recession as thepresident enacted the steepest tariffs in about a century.
“There doesn’t have to be a recession. Who knows how the market is going to react in a day, in a week.What we are looking at isbuilding thelong-term economic fundamentals for prosperity,” Bessent, a former hedge fund manager,told NBC News’ “Meet the Press”on Sunday.
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“We could see from the jobs number on Friday that it was well above expectations that, you know, we are moving forward,” he said at another point, referring to the report of228,000jobs added in March.“So I see no reason that we have to price in a recession.”
Critics have voiced confusion about Trump’s aims with the tariffs. At times, Trump has touted the tariffs as a negotiating ploy, and at other times, he’s talked about using them to bring in more revenue and — occasionally — he’s dropped hints that they might be permanent.
Bessent was coy about Trump’s exact game plan with the tariffs, but said that the president “has created maximum leverage for himself.”
“More than 50 countries have approached the administration about lowering their non-tariff trade barriers, lowering their tariffs, stopping currency manipulation,” Bessent added. “We’re going to have to see what the countries offer and whether it’s believable…after 20, 30, 40, 50 years of bad behavior, you can’t just wipe the slate clean.”
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The Treasury secretary further argued that “tariffs are a one-time price adjustment” and predicted that “real after-tax wages are going to go up for Americans” once Trump’s tax cuts, energy policy and deregulatory push kicks in.
Last week, as part of so-called “Liberation Day” Trump unveiled steep tariff increases on virtually every country, including a 10% baseline rate that went into effect Saturday and customized rates for countries that are slated to take effect Wednesday.
Markets have been roiled by the tariffs, wiping more than $6 trillion off stock valuations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 3,000 points over the past five days, the S&P 500 has shed 454 points during that time frame and the Nasdaq lost nearly 1,500 points.
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“We are going to have the biggest boom in the stock market we’ve ever seen under the Trump policies,”White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarropredicted on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“The reality here is that institutionally, the international trade system is designed to cheat us. They have systematically higher tariffs on us,” he added.“President Trump says no more — ain’t happening on his watch. And that’s where we’re headed. We’re heading towards a strong America that makes things again.”
Navarro contended that those who own stocks “can’t lose money unless you sell” and that the “smart strategy” is “not to panic.”
The top White House trade adviser, who has been widely seen as one of the leading architects of Trump’s tariff policy, also rejected speculation that the suite of duties is some sort of negotiating ploy.
“This is not a negotiation. This is a national emergency based on a trade deficit that’s gotten out of control because of cheating,” Navarro added. “Don’t say you want to lower the tariffs and be done with it. It’s the non-tariff cheating. Stop manipulating your currencies. Stop dumping stuff in.”
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett outright rejected concerns that tariffs will cause prices to go up across the board in a significant way for everyday Americans.
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“I don’t think that you’re going to see a big effect on the consumer in the USbecause I do think that the reason why we have a persistent long-run trade deficit is these people have very inelastic supply,” Hassett told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
He did admit that “there might be some increase in prices” butfurther predicted that the jobs numbers “are going to go up even more now that the tariffs are in place.”
A recent estimate fromYale’s Budget Labconcluded that average US households will have to spend an extra$3,800 this year due to the new batch of tariffs. Trump’s tariffs mean thatthe average effective US rate will soar to 22.5%, the highest level since 1909, per Yale’s Budget Lab.
Trump’s economic team has seethed at foreign countries for not taking in more US products. In 2024, the US imported $920 billion more goods and services than it exported.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, for example, has faulted the Europeans for not taking in more American pork.
“This is really important. Here’s the bottom line: they are using fake science and unsubstantiated claims to not take our products,” Rollins told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday when pressed about Europe’s concerns about the quality of American beef.
“Oh, sorry, we can’t take your beef since 2002 because you use a certain type of feed. That’s just absolute bull. It is not correct and not appropriate. Our supplies, our farmers and ranchers, we produce the safest, the most secure, the best food in the world,” she added. “It’s absolutely wrong, and it’s not based on sound science.
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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified that“there is no postponing”Trump’s tariffs and that they will “stay in place for days and weeks.”
“I have not participated in any meetings with respect to that,” Lutnick told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday when asked about whether the president is mulling potential subsidies to mitigate the impact of retaliatory tariffs on farmers and other key groups that may be impacted.
One area that critics have harped on is the tariffs against Australia’s uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, which Lutnick defended as a means of preventing loopholes.
“Basically he said, look, I can’t let any part of the world be a place where China or other countries can ship through them,” the Commerce secretary explained. “So he ended those loopholes, these ridiculous loopholes.”
