President Trump’s top aides raced to defend his expansive global tariffs on Sunday, downplaying the prospect that his new taxes on imports could cause a significant spike in prices or tip the U.S. economy into a painful recession.
As Mr. Trump departed Mar-a-Lago for another day of golfing at his club in Jupiter, Fla., his leading economic advisers dismissed the turmoil they have unleashed in financial markets around the world, insisting that the president’s trade war would ultimately improve the nation’s economic fortunes.
But they also sent another round of mixed signals over the extent to which Mr. Trump sees tariffs as a negotiating tool, even as many of his aides touted anew on Sunday that they had heard from foreign nations seeking to strike a deal.
“The tariffs are coming. Of course they are,” said Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Trump’s 10 percent base-line tariff on nearly every trading partner went into effect on Saturday morning. Another round of tariffs that aim to punish countries that run trade deficits with the United States will snap into place on Wednesday morning.
Kevin Hassett, the head of the White House National Economic Council, said that he did not expect to “see a big effect on the consumer in the U.S.,” even as he acknowledged in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that prices “might go up some” as a result of the tariffs.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the steep declines in global markets last week as short-term, while emphasizing the need for an economic “adjustment process” in the United States. He added on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there “doesn’t have to be a recession,” as the administration works toward “building the long-term economic fundamentals for prosperity.”
“We’re going to hold the course,” he said.
The reassurances come as Mr. Trump continues to strike a defiant tone over his tariffs in recent days. On Saturday, as the 10 percent levy went into effect, the president told his followers on Truth Social: “HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”
Mr. Trump has maintained that his tariffs can reset trade relationships that he sees as unfair and detrimental to American jobs and industries by reviving domestic manufacturing. He also wants the levies to raise new revenue to help pay for the costs of his economic agenda, including a package to cut corporate and individual taxes.
But his trade policies have provoked substantial, widespread blowback, leading even U.S. allies to condemn Washington.
Last week, China announced a slate of aggressive retaliatory measures that raised the odds of a persistent and economically damaging trade war. Other nations have sought to negotiate lower rates: Vietnam, facing a 46 percent tariff rate that would be among the highest faced by any U.S. trading partner, is seeking a 45-day delay and proposed dropping its own tariffs to zero.
Fanning out on the Sunday news show circuit, the president’s top aides responded to the fallout by boasting they had already heard from dozens of countries that wanted to discuss trade.
“Listen, we’ve got 50 countries that are burning the phone lines into the White House,” said Brooke Rollins, the secretary of agriculture, on CNN’s “State of the Union.” She said Mr. Trump’s tariffs have left some countries “desperate and willing” to cut a deal.
But the White House has sent conflicting messages about its true appetite for negotiation. Mr. Trump suggested last week that he could cut a deal in exchange for a “phenomenal” return, but then posted on Saturday that the tariffs were “here to stay.”
Mr. Bessent, asked whether Mr. Trump would be willing to cut a deal, suggested there was room to negotiate but that nothing would happen quickly. “They’ve been bad actors for a long time. And it’s not the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks” he said.
The confusion is unlikely to salve investors’ fears as markets prepare to open Monday, fresh off a weeklong rout during which major indexes fell precipitously. It was the worst weekly decline for the S&P 500 since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
At one point, Mr. Trump even appeared to suggest the market chaos was part of his strategy: He circulated a video from another user on Truth Social that argued the president is “purposely CRASHING” the markets in part to force the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
Pressed on the matter, Mr. Hassett on Sunday initially responded by saying the Fed is independent, before adding: “He’s not trying to tank the market.”
The wild gyrations in recent days have spooked even some Republicans on Capitol Hill. Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, predicted that deeper losses could convince members of his party to support a bill that would help Congress reclaim some of its authority over tariffs.
“It’s time that Congress restores its authorities here,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Alan Rappeport, Minho Kim and Michael Gold contributed to this story.
