President Donald Trump downplayed concerns about potential economic troubles on Friday, saying that even if the US economy experiences a short-term recession, everything will be “OK” in the long run.
“We met the press,” the president was asked twice by moderator Kristen Welker, who said that in the short term, if there’s a recession, it’s okay in the long run, “Look, yes, it’s all fine. What we’re, this is a transition period.
Welker then asked Trump if he was worried about the recession. Asked if he thought there was a possibility that he could happen, Trump replied, “Everything can happen, but I think we have the largest economy in our country’s history.”
The statement has made Wall Street analysts increasingly worried that changes in Trump’s tariff policy could lead the country to face a recession.
“Well, you know, you say, ‘Some people on Wall Street say'” – well, I say something else to you. We say we have the largest economy in history. Why don’t you talk about them? ” Trump said in an interview at the Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.
“There are a lot of people on Wall Street who say this will be the biggest stairwell ever,” the president added.
The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, according to the first measurements released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. This was significantly reduced by a decline in exports and an increase in imports ahead of Trump’s expected tariffs.
When meeting members of his cabinet on Wednesday, Trump biased his responsibility for gross domestic product in the first quarter, saying they were the result of former economic president Joe Biden.
“You probably saw some numbers today,” Trump said, “and I have to start by saying it’s Biden.”
“It’s not Trump,” he added Wednesday. “We’re in January, so these are quarterly numbers, we’re coming in and we’re very opposed to everything Biden was doing in terms of the economy and we’ve destroyed our country in many ways.”
Since the start of the administration in January, Trump has been trying to impose tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China.
Earlier last month, the president suspended the introduction of larger tariffs in most countries for 90 days, just days after it was imposed. His partial retreat encouraged rallies in the market. As of Friday, it has recovered the losses it had suffered after the initial tariff announcement on April 2nd.
At the same time, Trump slapped more tariffs in China, increasing the tariff rates of Asian countries to 145%.
Still, the president repeatedly dismissed concerns that tariffs on China would have a major impact on the price or availability of US consumer goods.
At the Cabinet meeting, he told reporters, “Someone said, ‘Oh, the shelves are open.’ Well, kids will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and perhaps two dolls will cost more than they normally would. ”