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Donald Trump’s top economic official vowed to promote bruising tariffs on imports from around the world, rejecting the horrors of the looming recession as investors harbor new chaos in financial markets.
In the speed of Sunday morning’s television interview, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended Trump’s ultra-protectionist trade policy, defending it as a necessary overhaul of global commerce, and dismissed last week’s brutal sale of stock prices.
They also proposed that additional taxation on imports from a wide range of countries, which are expected to take effect on Wednesday, will not be delayed. These were above the 10% “baseline” tariffs that were implemented on Saturday, and were hit by most imports.
“He announced it, and he wasn’t kidding. Of course, the tariffs are coming,” Rutnick told CBS on Sunday, adding that he “will not postpone” the taxation.
“The president needs to reset world trade.”
Top US officials say more than 50 countries have been in touch with the administration to seek negotiations to ease tariffs since Trump announced his new tariff plans at the White House Rose Garden last Wednesday.
But they kept the door open for consultation, but they were skeptical that they could quickly reach a series of deals that led to a wide rollback of US tariffs.
“That’s not something you can negotiate in days or weeks. We need to see what the country has to offer and whether it’s unbelievable,” Bescent told NBC.
“After 20, 30, 40, 50 years of bad behavior, you can’t wipe the slate clean.”
Political pressure on Trump and his team over tariff plans has risen rapidly. A massive drop in US stocks last week has sharpened Democrats’ attacks on the administration, and even some Republicans will be recoiled on the White House trade agenda.
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell warned that the tariffs set by Trump risked slowing high inflation and growth in the world’s largest economy, revealing concerns at the US Central Bank.
China has further increased fear of fallout by retaliating against the latest US tariffs, which involves its own taxation on American goods.
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However, Bescent denied that financial markets or economic outlooks would suffer from long-term negative effects. “There’s no need for a recession,” he said.
Taxation is a “one-time price adjustment,” and Americans will not be too disturbed by Wall Street volatility, he added.
“Who knows how the market will react in a week?” Bescent said.
“I don’t think Americans who want to retire now, Americans who have been cleaning up in their savings accounts for years, will see the daily fluctuations in what’s going on.”
But Lawrence Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary to Democratic President Bill Clinton, warned that “more turbulence” could likely hit the market unless Trump changes course.
“I think the President is likely to make things very difficult until he realizes that this is a very serious error that is likely to have very bad consequences,” Summers told ABC.
“I think it’s right to refrain from making big new purchases. Businesses are right to be cautious. People want to keep cash. What we need is a reversal of these policies.
