On Sunday morning talk shows, Trump's top economic advisers sought to portray the tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the U.S. in the global trade order. They also tried to minimize the economic shocks from last week's tumultuous rollout. Wall Street stock futures opened sharply lower on Sunday, in a sign that another rough week could be in store.
Neither Bessent nor the other officials named the countries or offered details about the talks. But simultaneously negotiating with multiple governments could pose a logistical challenge for the Trump administration and prolong economic uncertainty.
Bessent downplayed the stock market drop and said there was “no reason” to anticipate a recession based on the tariffs, citing stronger-than-anticipated U.S. jobs growth.
JPMorgan economists now estimate the tariffs will result in full-year U.S. gross domestic product declining by 0.3%, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3% growth, and that the unemployment rate will climb to 5.3% from 4.2% now.
Tariff dealmaking
Some governments have already signaled a willingness to engage with the U.S. to avoid the duties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would seek a reprieve from a 17% tariff on the country's goods during a planned meeting with Trump on Monday.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni - a Trump ally - pledged on Sunday to shield businesses that suffered damage from a planned 20% tariff on goods from the European Union.
No strategy to tank stock market
The S&P 1500 Composite Index, among the widest measures of the U.S. market, lost nearly $6 trillion in value in the two days after Trump's announcement and has had almost $10 trillion wiped out since mid-February, a significant blow to millions of Americans' retirement nest eggs.
In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump shared a video that suggested his tariffs aimed to hammer the stock market on purpose in a bid to force lower interest rates.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested on CBS News' 'Face the Nation' that they could be the latter, saying the tariffs would remain in place “for days and weeks.”
Lutnick said a comprehensive approach was needed so that small nations could not be used by larger countries to circumvent the tariffs.
“Basically (Trump) said, ‘I can’t let any part of the world be a place where China or other countries can ship through them,‘” Lutnick said.
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