WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday downplayed the financial markets’ dramatic plummet this week, saying Americans may have to endure economic pain to “rebuild our country.’’
“Markets are going to go up, and they’re going to go down but, you know what, we have to rebuild our country,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed those comments earlier Tuesday when she called the upheaval a “snapshot in time,” insisting the US is just in a “period of economic transition.”
The markets had their worst trading day Monday since 2022 amid President Trump’s global tariff threats, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 2% and the Nasdaq dropping 4%. Adding to the markets’ queasiness was Trump’s refusal over the weekend to rule out a recession this year.
The White House has insisted the dropping numbers will iron themselves out and create wealth over the long term, despite some public panic about the direction of the economy fewer than two months into Trump’s term.
“When it comes to the stock market, the numbers that we see today, the numbers we saw yesterday, the numbers we saw see we’ll see tomorrow, are a snapshot of a moment of time,” Leavitt said at her White House press briefing.
Leavitt then reupped the comments Trump made on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” — in which he didn’t rule out a recession and argued, “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.
“I’m here to echo the remarks of this president of this White House: We are in a period of economic transition. We are in a period of transition from the mess that was created under Joe Biden in the previous administration,” the press secretary argued.
The Trump administration has long pointed to the inflation brought about by former President Joe Biden and the high grocery prices during his term as reasons to why the economy needs time to get back on track.
Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told CNBC on Monday, “There are a lot of reasons to be extremely bullish about the economy going forward.”
But the National Economic Council adviser acknowledged, “This quarter, there are some blips in the data.”
Another White House official said Monday, “We’re seeing a strong divergence between animal spirits of the stock market and what we’re actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders, and the latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what’s in store for the economy in the medium to long term.”
Trump continued to levy more tariffs on Canada on Tuesday despite the market numbers, retaliating to the Ontario premier issuing a 25% tariff on electricity in midwestern states by issuing a 25% tariff increase of his own on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford then announced on Tuesday he was suspending its 25% surcharge, at least till both sides could talk further.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) hit the Trump administration for not listening enough to the market in its tariff decisions, writing Monday on X, “The stock market is comprised of millions of people who are simultaneously trading.
“The market indexes are a distillation of sentiment. When the markets tumble like this in response to tariffs, it pays to listen,” he said.
