Fox News Host Presses Donald Trump on ‘Rising Worries’ About Recession

President Donald Trump addressed “rising worries” that his policies—particularly his lack of clarity on tariffs—may lead to a recession during an appearance on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

Why It Matters

In last year’s presidential election, voters handed Trump a second term largely due to concerns over inflation and economic instability. Trump promised that he would take action “on day one” of his administration to bring down the cost of key goods and services, however, prices continued to go up. Eggs hit an average price of $4.95 a carton a few weeks after Trump’s inauguration.

One tool Trump has leaned on is the threat and implementation of tariffs against other countries—including allies. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods, typically paid by the importing businesses, which can then pass costs onto consumers through higher prices.

However, backlash to their implementation has caused Trump to then backtrack and add exemptions or outright delay the tariffs, as he did with Canada and Mexico twice since taking office.

What To Know

Trump sat down with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo for an extensive interview looking at the more tenuous and turbulent elements of his return to power, particularly his economic policies and the continuing uncertainty around them that led to a massive sell-off in the stock market over the past few weeks.

The S&P 500 on Thursday had its worst trading day of the year, dropping 1.8 percent while the Nasdaq plunged 2.6 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1 percent. Cumulatively, the Dow Jones has dropped a little over 1,600 points since February 10, while the Nasdaq dropped around 1,500 points and the S&P 500 has dropped around 300 points.

Trump insisted he inherited a “mess” from former President Joe Biden and that he had to move “at a very rapid pace” to “make up for a lot of lost time” since “the country was very poorly run for four years.”

When pressed about the lack of clarity for the business community around his tariffs, which makes it difficult for leaders to plan their company’s direction and strategy when they can’t tell month-to-month if tariffs will be implemented, rolled back or exempted, Trump dismissed it as a soundbite-driven concern.

“I think that they say that: You know, it sounds good to say,” Trump said, arguing that the U.S. “has been ripped off from every nation in the world, every company outside in the world.”

He later added that tariffs “may go up,” adding: “I don’t think we’ll go down, but we may go up and but, you know, they have plenty of clarity. They just use that. That’s like, almost a sound bite. They always say that we want clarity.”

When pressed on “rising worries about a slowdown,” Trump said: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing. And there are always periods of it takes a little time. I think it should be great for us.”

Bartiromo addressed the stock market tumble, with the president acknowledging that the U.S. is “going to have a disruption, but we’re okay with that.”

“What I have to do is build a strong country. You can’t really watch the stock market,” Trump said. “If you look at China, they have 100-year perspective. We have a quarter. We go by quarters, and you can’t go by that.”

He explained that he viewed his job as “building a tremendous foundation for the future,” and pointed to the onshoring of production from companies like Honda and Toyota as proof that his policies are working.

What People Are Saying

U.S. Commerce Secretary Harry Lutnick during an appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press said: “We’re going to see, over the next two years, the greatest set of growth coming from America as Americans. You saw at 1.3 trillion of new investments coming in America that, think of all those jobs, and remember, each trillion of investment in America is 1 percent of growth, GDP, so Donald Trump is bringing growth to America. I would never bet on recession. No chance.”

Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday: “Donald Trump walked in with a crappy economy. The number of full-time jobs has been dropping almost the entire Biden administration. This is a lot of work. The manufactured jobs are coming back, that had not been happening under Biden, that is a big deal. The number one thing is we’ve got to get American manufacturing back into this country. So, I’m very optimistic that we are going to get this done.”

Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, wrote last week on X, formerly Twitter: “Trade wars kill the economy. We all should’ve learned this in history class. But Trump didn’t—now his reckless tariffs are tanking markets, driving up prices, and pushing us toward recession. Anyone? Anyone?”

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang wrote last week on X: “Do I think Trump is leading us into a recession through his tariffs, posturing and erratic leadership? Yes. Yes I do.”

What Happens Next?

Regarding tariffs, Canadian and Mexican goods that meet the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) criteria will be spared from Trump’s 25 percent tariffs until April 2.

Trump, meanwhile, will see how the market responds to his reversal once stock trading resumes on Monday morning.