President Donald Trump Thursday said the response to his major tariffs has been very good. “I think it’s going very well. It was an operation like what a patient gets operated on, and it’s a big thing,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “I said this would exactly be the way it is. We have six or $7 trillion coming in to our country, and we’ve never seen anything like it. The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
“The world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal? They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years. We’ve been at the wrong side of the ball. And I’ll tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable,” Trump said as global stocks crashed in response to his trade war upon the world.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 3.3% as of mid-afternoon Thursday.
Trump on Wednesday announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” levies, including a 10 per cent tariff on most countries and higher rates on some key trading partners, a 20 per cent tariff on the 27-nation European Union, 25 per cent on South Korea and 24 per cent on Japan. The new 10% baseline is roughly triple the average US tariff rate and will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Specific reciprocal duties will take effect after midnight on April 9.
“THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING. THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a LIV Gold tournament at his golf course in Miami. After his dinner, he is slated to fly to Palm Beach by helicopter and stay the night at Mar-a-Lago.
Vice president JD Vance, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt have taken the field — attending news channels to defend Trump tariffs.