In the wake of last week’s “reciprocal” tariffs imposed by President Trump, fears of a coming market bloodbath and recession have swept the world. U.S. stocks have plummeted, losing over $5 trillion over Thursday, April 3, and Friday, April 4, alone, and administration officials have reportedly received panicked calls from Wall Street to reverse course. Commentary has gone from worries that there is a growing chance of recession, all the way to a Bloomberg article published today: “Trump’s Tariff ‘Chart of Death’ Has Wall Street Facing Harsh Reality.”
“It’s a five-alarm fire,” the CEO of a Wall Street firm told Bloomberg. “There’s no argument for creating a trade war whatsoever.” The “R” word is now being openly discussed by nearly all of the major financial players, and Bloomberg claimed April 6 that 92% of economists are now predicting a recession.
There was an additional 10% duty imposed on all U.S. imports on April 5, and next April 9 will see additional duties on imports from 60 countries, some as high as 50%. Trump, meanwhile, was valiant, writing on Truth Social early on April 4: “GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!
Trump’s economic team were prominent on Sunday’s talk shows to defend the President’s policy. These included Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Bessent told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” “I see no reason that we have to price in a recession.” He claimed we have had an “unsustainable system” for a long time, and that other countries “have been bad actors for a long time. … I think that we are going to have to see the path forward, because after 20, 30, 40, 50, years of bad behavior, you can’t just wipe the slate clean,” he said. Bessent claimed that 50 countries have already reached out to the administration to negotiate.
The move has also reportedly generated significant backlash from within Trump’s Republican Party. However, exemplary of the narrative from some of the President’s supporters, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) framed the issue as one of American manufacturing against China, Wall Street, and “the Globalists.” Asked by Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” about Wall Street’s concern of a trade war with China and an economic downturn, Tuberville replied: “Well first of all, Wall Street’s one of our biggest problems.… Wall Street and the Globalists—they do not want change, they want it to stay business as usual. We cannot stay business as usual.”
