New tariffs go into effect as economic uncertainty grows

All right. We're gonna start with billionaire investor Warren Buffett announcing his retirement as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, surprising a lot of people at the company's annual shareholders meeting Saturday. Now, the Wall Street icon has led Berkshire Hathaway since its founding in 1965.

He will stay on as chairman of the board now, Buffett said when he steps down at the end of the year, the company's vice chairman, Greg Abel, would take over pending board approval. Buffett designated him as his successor several years ago. Now, just before Buffett announced his retirement, he finally shared his thoughts about Trump's tariffs.

Buffett called America's trade war, quote, a big mistake. Trade should not be a weapon. I do think that the more support, the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes.

It won't be an our expense, the more prosperous will become and will the safer we'll feel and your children will feel. Someday. Now, Buffett's comments come as a new round of tariffs took effect Saturday.

The tariff on imported car parts will hit the U. S. auto industry hard because all American car manufacturers import at least some parts to build their cars, and experts say the tariffs could add around $4,000 to the cost of any vehicle.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is at the Port of Los Angeles with the latest. Good morning Omar. Look, these tariffs might not affect anyone who's shopping for a new car right now, but it will affect those who might need repairs on their car, who need parts to come from overseas.

You know, none of the 10 million cars produced in the United States are made with 100% American parts. They all use at least some parts from abroad. This is happening, of course, as we're hitting another milestone this week.

All the shipments that came from China pre tariffs on that day of April 9th have now arrived in the United States. A lot of them through this port, the largest in the nation the Port of Los Angeles. And now everything that comes in here will be subject to that 145% tariff.

We heard from the executive director here that that has already caused a drop of 35% in imports in arrival. So here, because business owners are saying, I'm just going to wait and see what happens with these tariffs before I buy any more merchandise. There might be subject to these tariffs.

One business, though, that is actually booming at this time is something called bonded warehouses. It's being used as a bit of a loophole by business owners, because it is a completely legal way to store your goods in U. S.

soil, but without paying the tariffs or any taxes on it until you withdraw it. Take a listen. The other benefit is maybe you find a buyer.

Maybe you sell your product at a higher price, and you find a buyer who's willing to pay that higher price. You can still house it here until you find that buyer. So it's just giving everybody a pause to try and figure out their is it their new price structure?

Is it where I think right now we're waiting to see if the tariffs are going to come down. That's the biggie that the tariffs on the Chinese products. Now this wait and see is in itself a gamble.

They're hoping that talks with China will go well. And that will lead to a drop in these tariffs. But the whole time that this merchandise is in these warehouses is also not hitting the shelves.

And that could cause a whole other host of issues. All right. Thank you Julia.

Joining me now is the Washington bureau chief for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tia Mitchell. so let's start, on the economy. Any talk of a recession?

aside, how much real estate does President Trump actually have here in terms of let's wait and see. Trust me on this. Trust me on this until a trade deal actually needs to get done.

Yeah, I think he ran on an economic message. A lot of people voted for him, based on that economic message. And he promised results on day one.

So I think there are some people who voted for Trump. They're willing to give him time, but they are disappointed that some of the things he promised have not happened. We've seen members of Congress willing to give him a longer runway.

but I think that patience the polling is showing us that the patience is starting to wear thin, and it may not have as much of an effect on Trump as it may Republicans who will be on ballots in the coming weeks and months. Yeah. and, you know, part of his talk on tariffs and the sort of the confrontational posturing he's had at times with U.

S. allies, I think has helped fuel some of the new leaders at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. for example, his political fortunes sort of turned around and he wins the election.

and he's expected to meet with Trump this week. Does does Canada come from any different position of strength than than it did when maybe Trudeau was meeting with president elect Trump? a few months ago?

I think he, Prime Minister Carney, comes in with strength because he kind of has a mandate of his own, so to speak, based on the election last week. And I think he wants to play nice with Trump. I think all of our allies and all of these countries that are trading partners want to play nice.

They want to see if there can be a deal, because what President Trump has shown is if you kind of if he personally likes you, then he's willing to do things that benefit whatever your interests are. So I think that's going to be the Prime Minister's posture. But I also think if he believes that the US policy under President Trump is going to be harmful to Canada, I think he's a little bit more empowered to speak out, to be critical than maybe Prime Minister Trudeau felt he was able to do.

It's an interesting contrast because, yes, when Trump was first elected, there was this revolving door of European leaders, Canadian leaders coming through to to play nice. And here Carney gets elected on essentially being able to fight back against, President Trump. and, you know, we were just talking about Warren Buffett announcing and speaking out against the, you know, weaponizing trade, essentially.

do you see any significance in someone of his stature actually speaking publicly on, on, on, I guess the trade strategy, at this point in the administration. So if you could go back on earlier and she mentioned that Warren Buffett over the years has criticized particularly, President Trump's tariff policies, even during his first, tenure in the White House, I think even more so now. What President Trump has shown us is that he's not as willing to just go along with the the business interests to their their line of thinking on things like tariffs and international trading and free markets.

He's much more isolationist. And we know that business communities, business leaders want, you know, free trade amongst the nations because it the at the end of the day, Warren Buffett's company is an international company with investments. even if they're not investing outside of the US, they have a, you know, the supply chain and all of that.

So I think President Trump is just not as worried about angering the business community, the business lobby, the Chamber of Commerce types. He's just moving forward with, I want to say, a tariff policy, but it's been a little bit inconsistent, but still moving forward with what he thinks he should do, not necessarily listen to these other folks. Yeah.

And you know, his relationship I think to with with Congress is is interesting because he has a slight Republican majority in the House. he has a majority in the Senate. But as you mentioned, some of these or a lot of these folks will be up for reelection or potentially reelection, in, in just a few months time when the campaigning will really begin.

we just sort of got got a hint of have his budget blueprint, you know, the recommendations he makes to Congress. But I think it does speak to where his, his interests are. do you see are there any, I guess, clash points, you see, sort of from what we've seen from from the president so far and in what Congress would need to actually implement in terms of the budget.

So right now, Republican leaders, as you mentioned, control both chambers. And they've indicated that they support President Trump's agenda. They want to help him implement it as we know they're right now trying to come together with the details of the reconciliation package.

That would be the first step in carrying out a lot of the reductions in non-defense spending that Trump outlined in his budget blueprint. The concern, though, or their issue that they're facing, is that there are enough Republicans who are either in swing districts or represent, rural areas and are concerned about the impacts of some of these cuts, that it's going to be really hard to get the majority that they need. Just even with Republicans alone, they're losing members every day.

You'll hear a member saying, well, I can't support this or I can't support that. And so they're having a hard time figuring out what they can put on the table that can get all the votes that they need. And that's the issue because it's easy to say, let's reduce government spending, let's reduce non-defense spending.

But when you get into the details, there are a lot that different members are going to quibble with. Yeah, and a lot that people will say, well, wait, why is this program cut? Because this program impacts my district.

Yeah. Specifically, I think we saw that from Susan Collins. She was one of the people that spoke out on that.

Tia Mitchell, thank you for being here. Thank you. Bloomberg White House correspondent Akayla Gardner and Politico White House reporter Jake Traylor both joining us now.

Guys, thanks for being here on this Sunday evening. Jake, this is one of I'm going back now to Warren Buffett, one of the titans of business. Maybe the, as one person said, the GOAT.

of of being a titan of business, weighing in on President Trump's policies. We know President Trump has pitched himself to the American people as a businessman. but we have someone like Warren Buffett saying what he said today, on the same day that we're hearing the president acknowledge that they are kind of at least shrug off the possibility of a recession.

how significant is it that we're we're having all of this happened today? Yeah, we're seeing Warren Buffett, arguably one of the most, if not the most influential figure on Wall Street and has been for decades. sign off from his career and at the same time, finally weighing in, on these tariffs that have have kind of plagued the country over the past couple of months.

Now, I've spoken with dozens of Wall Street individuals who have expressed very similar sentiments to what Buffett shared today. I think if anything, we saw Buffett fall in line with what many are saying on Wall Street. And I know I know, we played some of the sound earlier at the top of the show, but Buffett saying that we should do what we do best and they being other countries, should do what they do best.

I think that right there, in reference to trade and the importance of trade, sort of encapsulates what we've heard from folks on Wall Street, from consumers across the markets. And as I said, we're seeing this play out in real time a couple days ago. tariffs for fast fashion are hitting now car parts entering the United States.

those tariffs coming into full force. Trump in an interview airing tomorrow, fully dismissing some of the growing concerns around some of these economic policies. So Buffett is perhaps the most powerful voice here, when it comes to voices on Wall Street and on financial markets.

And the question now is, with this added weight on Donald Trump's back as consumer tension continues to rise. Does this impact the way that he treats some of these countries, some of these tariffs that he's implied? Yeah.

And and Kayla, I think we are looking to see kind of what is his pain threshold on all of this. On Friday we had a better than expected jobs report. We know that the stocks have bounced back to kind of where they were before April 2nd.

So there are a couple of good pieces of economic data that they got yesterday at the same time. As Jake notes, like there are all these other undercurrents. And so how would you say, they're dealing with that kind of taking all of that in?

Does it embolden them to keep pressing forward, or are they listening and watching externally to these concerns that Wall Street, but also a lot of Americans have? I mean, speaking of economic data, we had the U. S.

growth retracting for the first time in years, and that was a huge signal, I think, to Wall Street and broadly, and also to the White House, how this economy is really impacted by these really massive and aggressive tariffs campaign that we've seen the president enable. And so what was interesting about Buffet's comment is he was really critical of almost the protectionist or isolationist attitude that Trump is going about this with, with that America First mindset. And that has really caused a lot of countries to have tensions with the United States.

And yet we're still seeing the White House prioritize relationships with what they call important trading partners like India, South Korea, Japan. And so those are some of the deals that we're watching really closely to potentially come to fruition. But I think the question is, what direction will the president ultimately go?

Will he rely on people like Peter Navarro, who are the staunchest supporters of tariffs, or really siding with more people like Bessent and even Elon Musk, who's been very critical of these tariffs, and folks, frankly, who want to see the economy thrive and are really concerned about how this could impact everyday business owners and American consumers. Jake, the administration has been teasing out deals or a deal coming soon, the Treasury secretary suggesting that perhaps that deal could be with India, saying to watch this space. What are you hearing in terms of a deal transpiring, but also just how critical?

I mean, obviously, if you're talking to somebody like Scott Bassett, he he understands what a deal would do for the economy. but but also more broadly, the, the president and his full administration. Yeah.

So I'll tell you a couple of key things that I've been focused on is one is and speaking with White House administration officials, they're very aware right now of how important and crucial a coming deal, how much that would benefit their administration, how much that would immediately benefit the U. S. economy when there has been any, resistance or rather, taking a back of some of these tariffs.

We've seen an immediate boost in the economy over the past couple of weeks. And so the Trump administration and the folks that I speak with, they're aware that a deal of this size, of course, a deal with India, of course, a deal with China and some of these largest, economic proponents would ultimately be something that they are seeking very heavily. I think what is notable, though, is as there have been many occasions over the past couple of days where reporters have gotten to get in the room with Donald Trump, with, with Bassett, with, with Navarro, some of these individuals, and asked about these deals and they've not been able to offer up anything yet.

And so so I'm sure behind very closed doors, there are some talks that are underway. We've seen Trump's resistance of talking about just getting on the phone with President XI of China and making something happen, being very careful to say he's not going to be the one to make the first move. So the White House is aware of how big one of these deals would be for the U.

S. economy for sustaining, some of some American consumers. Ford.

but it doesn't appear that they have one close to tied up, bow tied, ready to present to the American public just yet. Let's turn to the U. S.

economy. I want you to take a listen to what President Trump told NBC. He was asked if he would be comfortable with the country potentially dipping into a recession in the short term if he were to able, if he were able to achieve his long term goals.

Here's his response. Some people on Wall Street say that we're going to have the greatest economy in history. Is it okay in the short term to have a recession?

Look, yeah, it's everything's okay. Everything's okay. That's the president saying everything's okay.

Including a short term recession. Do you agree? Well, I'm old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan took office and inflation was completely out of control.

He and Paul Volcker had to take some pretty bold and swift action to tame inflation. That included a pretty severe recession. But that's what that's what it took.

When you come to office and you are, inheriting enormous messes across across the spectrum, you know, an open border that presents a clear and present danger, a 40 year high inflation that has dramatically devalued the dollar. endless wars going on. it's hard to clean up those enormous messes.

So I appreciate President Trump has acted, boldly, swiftly, decisively to to clean up some of these messes. And yeah, it's it's it's not going to be easy. And sometimes the results are going to have to be reevaluated and relooked at some actions reversed.

But you have to act boldly. when you have that responsibility, I hear you when it comes to the border, I hear you when it comes to inflation. I hear you when it comes to, massive debt.

But this is President Trump, trying to reshape, the American economy, bring more manufacturing jobs here, through a very aggressive, menu of tariffs all over the world, which will, of course, raise prices, according to almost every major economist. And it does seem like there's been a reluctance on the part of the president to acknowledge he acknowledges disruption, but to acknowledge how much this could hurt lower income people. I want to play something else, President Trump said about concerns over the impact that the tariffs are having on prices.

You know, somebody said, oh, the shelves are going to be up. And, well, maybe the children will have $2 instead of $30. You know, and maybe the $2 will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.

Do you worry at all at this? Let them play with fewer dolls. Rhetoric that it might seem out of touch, especially coming from a billionaire.

Well, first of all, it's amazing how dismissive you are of the enormous challenges on the board. Oh, I'm not, I'm not, I'm grant, I'm granting the point. I'm not.

I'm granting the fact. The fact that the. So the fact is we have allowed manufacturing of very strategic, very important products to be offshored.

President Trump fully understands that. He fully understands. One of the reasons he won the presidency is because of Joe Biden's high inflation.

So he's fully aware of that. again, I have my concerns. the markets have shown those concerns.

They've bounced back. for my part, what I've been trying to do keep the administration price of of the businesses that are going to suffer if this continues long term. But it does sound like, you know, his bold strategy is resulting in other nations coming to the table and negotiating in better faith.

And they have in the past. I don't know where this all goes. I, I don't want to, lessen President Trump's leverage by undermining him whatsoever.

I just keep him in his administration price of how it impacts Wisconsin businesses. I think that's currently my role. And again, actually cheerlead hope for the best year as opposed to I think a lot of people are hoping he fails.

I hope he succeeds. I hope he succeeds, too. How concerned are you about the next 4 to 6 weeks, with, the final Chinese container ships, pre tariff, reaching American shores, with warnings of empty shelves, with warnings of higher prices.

What are you what industries in Wisconsin are you worried about most right now? Yeah, primarily those that are involved in manufacturing where they also export. They'll import component parts.

They're competing against, foreign companies that, won't be subject to those type of tariffs. So again, it all depends on how high those tariffs are. You know, an attempt above the, board tariff.

I mean, that's on the, wholesale cost of goods that probably will not have that significant impact on inflation. Nobody can predict all these things. But again, my role is listening to my constituents relaying that to the administration.

I will say the administration, the trade representatives are very accessible. They're listening to this. They understand the concerns.

I think President Trump understands concerns. But, you know, this is a multi-decade, you know, firmly held belief on the president of President Trump that America has put itself in peril by allowing so, so many strategic products to be offshored. It's trying to turn that situation around.

It's not easy. This this is a problem is built over decades. He's trying to do it in within one administration.

That's why he's acting boldly and swiftly. Yeah I don't think dolls are in the American strategic interests though, right? I mean, you're talking about semiconductors and the like, and I understand your point.

And that's why even many conservatives say that there should be more like Stephen Moore, for example. There should be more discrete targeting of industries and not just a wide swath of anything coming from any other country. Well, again, President Trump has ingratiating strategy and negotiating style.

I think he's throwing the entire world off balance. I think he understands that creates uncertainty and instability, which is not good for economic activity. He understands those things, but that's his negotiating strategy.

And it sounds like nations are coming to the table, starting to negotiate in good faith, which they have not been willing to do in the past. I've done a lot of negotiating sometimes you've got to be hard. Take a hard position with your negotiating partners.

Sounds like that's the approach he's taking. Again, I, for one, am wishing him success. You know, somebody said on the shelves, it's going to be up and, well, maybe the children will have 2 d instead of 30 dolls tonight, and maybe the 2 dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.

I don't think a beautiful baby girl needs at 11 years old. Needs to have 30 dolls I think they can have 3 dolls or Welcome back to State of the Union. Let them eat baby dolls?

I'm not exactly sure what the message is here. President Trump apparently downplaying concerns about his economic policies and insisting Americans can be patient. My panel joins me now.

We're of course, we're going to start with the Member of Congress at the table. What do you make of this message? I mean, obviously, he is also saying there's going to be some disruption if we remake, we make the American economy and bring manufacturing jobs here.

But I don't know who in his life has a 10 or 30 baby dolls. I don't even understand. Well, gender or gender stereotyping aside, and the ridiculousness of that, I don't think that the American public is cool with, you know, ruining Christmas full stop.

And I, you know, as a person who came from industry before the manufacturing industry, you can't fix supply chains in three months. It takes, in some cases, years and years. And people have put in orders for things like baby dolls months and months ago.

They're possibly on the water right now if they even got off the shore off of, you know, out of China because of the tariff threats. And so what's happening is we're seeing an enormous threat, I guess, to the fact that everything on the shelves, consumer products will no longer be there because vendors are scared, because consumers are scared, because it's just going to end up being kind of a disaster. And I think that the American public is not patient.

They should not be patient with the idea of tariffs. And I think unfortunately, that's what our president is asking us to be. Let me ask the pollster, the Republican pollster at the table here, because I think that there is a way to message this short term disruption for a long term gain.

But I don't know that kids don't need to have 30 baby dolls to fine or what, he told NBC. It's okay if there's a short term recession, as long as the long term goals happen. What would you advise?

talking to voters as you do. I would advise keeping the focus on the benefits. And I really think that it's important for this White House to win whatever they're negotiating land on something that that short term pain is not going to be that painful.

you know, people do want to see manufacturing come back to the U. S. they do want to see cost of living go down.

They do want to see America make more things and make great things, and that's all fine. Then the keep the focus on that, because right now, in the short term, if we get to Christmas and kids have fewer toys, but the factory down the street hasn't reopened, that does create a really big political problem for the white House. And McDonald's.

had some earnings reports, financial report that talked about, people in special low, lower income and middle income, going to McDonald's less because of these concerns. as a Democrat, what's your take on this? And is your party doing enough to draw attention to these issues?

Well, I think those are two separate questions. Just the first. I'll take no on those.

No, no, no. The first is it's a compounding effect. Right.

So to Kristin’s point, just to build on that, if the factory is closed, you already weren't making enough money and things cost more. And then you pass a budget that the social safety net is ripped out. So your Medicaid, your Social Security, that is not going to bring stability or relief to the American people right now.

I do think even though polls are starting to trend, that folks are not agreeing with the way Donald Trump is handling the economy, he's still just a few days past 100, and folks are giving him some leeway. but come Christmas, even come August, on the other side of the 4th of July, Americans, especially if it takes longer for things to arrive and they're more expensive. People just are not going to be excited about that.

And it's going to start to affect folks in the midterm. Now, whether Democrats are doing enough about this, here's what I would just say. It's not enough to say, this is bad.

This is bad, this is bad. What are you going to do to make a difference? Because the reason why Donald Trump is getting a little bit of space to figure this out is because people were feeling so much pain before November 5th, but Democrats just can't be anti-Trump.

They have to have a vision for the future and figure it out. And sure, Michael, there is going to be this big budget debate in which Trump pushes to have the Trump tax cuts extended, and a lot of those tax cuts hit lower middle income people. But a lot of them are also for upper income people because they pay more taxes.

There's going to be an easy way for Democrats to say, you're continuing to cut taxes for the wealthy while you're, you know, the prices are going up and hurting the lower and middle income people. Well, I think legislatively, I'd probably shift the focus to working class people that the president really saw a realignment. So you would not you would get rid of the tax cuts.

I would say I would get rid of it. I would probably do more, though, Jake, to prioritize working class people. What we've seen with the Republican Party and the most recent election was that there's a shift, a drastic shift of working class, blue collar people who voted Republican.

That's really unprecedented. And so I think if that is going to become a cemented base of the party, you really have to prioritize these people. Now.

Now the president has some benefit here. You look at the stock market. You saw the rally Friday.

All of the losses that we saw, from April 2nd, the quote unquote, Liberation Day have indeed recovered the job number. Job numbers were pretty strong. Unemployment remained steady.

workers compensation for the most part remained steady. So the marketplace is suggesting that they're giving the president an opportunity, but they do wants to bility. So I would advise the White House to quickly, finalize this tariff negotiation, if you will.

And if the president does that, the market will continue to rally, and I think you'll ultimately see a surplus. So there's a new, clip, that I'm told, about. President Trump asked if he is always going to abide by the US Constitution.

and, here it is. Your Secretary of State says everyone who's here, citizens and non-citizens deserve due process. Do you agree?

Mr. I don't know, I'm not I'm not a lawyer. I don't know don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?

I don't know, I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. I mean, some of the backstory here is that President Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was an effort, paused right now by a Trump appointed judge to get around some of the due process obligations, when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrants in this country. But anyway, I mean, your head should explode when you hear the president of the United States say that he's not really sure if he's going to abide by the Constitution and then say something as weak as that.

He's not a lawyer. It doesn't matter what he is. He is the president of the United States.

And the idea that he can seriously, with a straight face, say something like that should offend all Americans, should have said all voters and should be an indicator of who he is as a person. and I think one of the things we were talking about earlier was sort of a legislative responsibility. The reality is, right now, it's not just the president who's behaving as though the Constitution doesn't matter.

So is the legislature. We are every week, week after week, are passing less than 5 or 6 bills, and they're ridiculous bills that mean nothing. We have so far had five laws come into into being as a result of the last 100 days.

We are anemic as a as a legislative body, and we refuse to actually do our constitutional job, which is to do the things like tariff, policy. Instead of doing that, my Republican colleagues have literally voted on the ability to not vote on tariffs. and that's where we are right now as a legislature.

All right. Thanks one and all for being here. Really appreciate it.

The President Trump planned a victory lap this week to mark 100 days back in the White House. But much of that was overshadowed by several key setbacks, including a major staffing shakeup in the White House when National Security Adviser Mike Waltz was ousted, moved to a new role, and yet another position added to Marco Rubio's plate as his influence grows in the administration. Then there were the major legal roadblocks when a Trump appointed judge ruled that the president unlawfully invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport migrants whom the White House alleges are gang members, and another judge permanently blocked his order to punish a law firm that represented Hillary Clinton.

And this morning, fears of a recession as new auto tenants kick in. New news. The economy contracted in the first quarter.

So let's break this all down with that excellent panel this morning, POLITICO's Dasha Burns. Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times and Anna Palmer of Punchbowl News. Good morning, you all.

Thank you for being here. Let's talk about this big news in the morning, which is this auto tariffs are they kicking in about 25% import tax on most auto parts coming into the United States. It could average according to CNN analysis about $4,000 per vehicle.

And that's not the only tariff about to kick in. Others, certain packages that are under $800 are now subject to U. S.

tariffs. Also, many Chinese goods. Americans too soon feel the impact to Asia.

You cover the White House. We've been hearing time and again there's going to be a deal. These trade deals, they have not come out yet.

What is happening behind the scenes? I mean, we heard from Peter Navarro that they could do 90 deals in 90 days, and we haven't seen one yet. Behind the scenes.

They are working on this. They've got Secretary Scott Bessent as the driving force here, which has been a relief to a lot of folks on Wall Street. They see him as an adult in the room.

He has a lot of street cred on Wall Street. but they need to get a deal done because that is what so many of these, both both voters and out on Wall Street and the stock market is waiting for, they have to show something. Yeah.

And that's a Republicans are clamoring for tea. They want something to be announced. But look, there there was some good, positive job news, over on Friday saying that the job jobs were about 185,000 new jobs, in the month of March.

However, there was also bad news that the economy contracted in the first quarter. We learned that last week, in no small part because of Donald Trump's tariffs and his economic policies. Another quarter that means that we are in a recession if we see the economy contract again.

So is Trump concerned about a recession? Well, he was asked about that in interview this morning. There are many people on Wall Street say this is going to be the greatest windfall ever happen.

And that's my question over the long term. Is it okay in the short term to have a recession? Look, yeah, it's everything's okay.

What we are. I said this is a transition period. I think we're going to do fantastic.

So not concerned about a short term recession, we also have to remember that the economy in many ways has. What got Donald. Trump elected.

This was a primary issue for voters. You square comments like that. in my interview, as well as another interview he did with ABC news, almost indicating actually people did vote for me.

And trust me with this issue. square, put that up against his comments. During the campaign that he.

Would bring down prices on day one and coming into office, he set high expectations. For immediate. Change on this issue.

And now it comes as there's a lot of anxiety and and economic frustration forthcoming with these tariffs as well. You're going to continue to see the administer. The president and his top aides tried to reset expectations here for voters coming.

But if consumer prices continue to go up I mean that could lead to real. Backlash to resetting is happening a little bit too late. I mean, one of the things that I heard from his advisers as they were trying to get him to lower those expectations a little bit sooner, to explain to his voters what they're trying to do, that there might be some short term pain.

They're starting to use that language now, but that is not how he gets either on the campaign trail or in the Oval. That was didn't make it out of the bumper sticker short term. but just maybe in a few years, things will be gray.

Well, and he's still trying now to say that this is actually Joe Biden's economy, right? I mean, this is that that is not right. I mean, at what point does he own it?

And I think when you and I speak to, he'll Republicans, they're very concerned about what is happening here. If there's another quarter where the country GDP contracts, the this patience that we've seen and kind of the willingness of Republicans to go along with Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, I think gets to be much, much harder. We already saw it with this tariff rebuke, 49-49 almost lost.

It was a messaging. bill-- They should have lost, but for two absences. Right.

But but for that they would have lost. And I think that is just a showcasing that where Trump is on tariffs and the economy is not where congressional Republicans are, no question. And that's not where the American public is either.

I mean, you look at poll after poll in there just really is nothing that is less popular than his tariffs. I mean, every single poll essentially bears that out, that they are among his most unpopular policies. Look at this.

The impact of Trump's tariff policies on your personal finances. 59% of Americans say it hurts. And then you drill down into the numbers about you break partisan breakdown among voters.

Republican voters okay, 64%. Yeah, that's above average. That's a there's a certainly a clear majority.

But independents which of course independents determine elections 58% of independents have a bad opinion of Trump's tariff policy. Yeah those numbers are not good. And not certainly what they wanted to be talking about around ways you've heard them try to push on the immigration message.

I mean, one of the things Trump did say on the campaign trail, and he said after he felt like immigration was even more important than the economy. So they're trying to keep the conversation focused. They're trying to keep Democrats talking about that as well, which they've had some success with.

but ultimately, once people start feeling this in their pocketbooks, which is starting to happen, that's that's where the rubber meets the road.