President Trump took credit for the positive parts of the economy and blamed his predecessor for the lagging parts as voters increasingly express concerns about the economy.
Trump told NBC News’s Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press” that only “certain aspects” of the economy are a result of his actions.
“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” Trump said. “He did a terrible job on everything.”
Trump acknowledged that the stock market has been volatile since he announced and implemented tariffs on various countries. He said he takes responsibility for “everything” but emphasized that he’s only been in office for three months.
“And the tariffs have just started kicking in. And we’re doing really well,” he said. “Psychologically, I mean, the fake news was giving me such press on the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country.”
Trump’s signature policy of tariffs has resulted in instability in the U.S., often causing significant drops in the stock market followed by similarly sized rallies. The stock and bond markets were dropping ahead of Trump’s widest-ranging tariffs on what he considers the worst offenders on trade barriers, but they began to recover after he announced a 90-day pause on implementation.
Trump touted the stock market climbing for nine consecutive days, with the S&P 500 reclaiming the losses experienced after he announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs last month. The news came after the most recent jobs report showed the U.S. added 177,000 jobs and kept the unemployment rate at 4.2 percent.
Trump has claimed that the economy is in a transition stage and said U.S. consumers may need to experience some short-term economic pain for the tariffs to pay off in the long term.
But the stock market rise also came amid reports on possible progress between the U.S. and China on reaching a trade deal that could result in the U.S. reducing the 145 percent tariff Trump placed on the country.
Trump reiterated to Welker that children can get by with fewer dolls or pencils in the meantime while the transition happens.
“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five,” he said.
Trump has previously sought to blame former President Biden for the negative aspects of the economy, calling it “Biden’s Stock Market” in response to criticism of the turbulence it’s experienced.
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