US President Donald Trump offered a rosy assessment of the aftermath of his sweeping tariff announcement, even as the stock market dropped sharply on Thursday over the move.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,600 points a day after Trump announced the measures. The US stocks led a worldwide selloff after the Republican president’s announcement of tariffs against much of the world ignited a shock like none seen since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” the Associated Press quoted Trump as saying when asked about the market.
The 78-year-old made the remarks as he left the White House to fly to one of his Florida golf clubs.
Trump on Wednesday announced a minimum tariff of 10 percent on imports, with the tax rate running much higher on products from certain countries like China and those from the European Union.
The announcement jolted markets worldwide, but Trump said that was to be expected. He compared the United States to a sick patient in need of surgery when asked by a reporter for his reaction to the worst stock market drop in years.
“I think it’s going very well. We have an operation, like when a patient gets operated on, and it’s a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is,” he said, an apparent reference to the selloff.
He talked about trillions of dollars in investment that is “coming into our country” from companies that want to make their products in the US to avoid tariffs.
Later, speaking with the reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that he’d be open to using tariffs to negotiate with other countries and that it would depend on whether they had something “phenomenal” to offer in return.
He maintained that other countries have been taking advantage of the US for a long time, and he wants it to stop, something he had also said while announcing the measures on Wednesday.
Donald Trump’s ‘reciprocal tariffs’ announced as ‘Liberation Day’
US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs against other countries on Wednesday during an event at the Rose Garden of the White House.
The tariffs ranged from 10 per cent to 49 per cent. The US President levied a 26 per cent tariff on India, 34 per cent on China, 46 per cent on Vietnam, and 10 per cent on the UK. The EU has been slapped with a 20 percent tariff, while 49 percent has been levied on Cambodia. Imports from South Korea will attract 25 percent tariffs.
Trump, who has dubbed the announcement on April 2 as ‘Liberation Day’, said, “Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years. But it is not going to happen anymore.” He also said that the tariff money will be used to bring down the debt that the US owes.
