President Donald Trump implored Americans to be "patient" with his tariffs, saying time is needed to get past an economic "overhang" created by former President Joe Biden.
Trump took to his social media platform Wednesday to comment on the stock market's volatility during his first 100 days in office.
"This is Biden's Stock Market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden 'Overhang.' This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!"
Wall Street's main indexes opened sharply lower Wednesday after data showed the world's largest economy contracted in the first quarter.
Stocks fell on the news that the U.S. economy shrank 0.3% from January through March, its first drop in three years. It was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the U.S. tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump imposed massive tariffs.
However, consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, surged 0.7% last month after an upwardly revised 0.5% gain in February, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said Wednesday.
Trump signed executive orders Tuesday to relax some of his 25% tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, a significant reversal as the import taxes threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers.
"We just wanted to help them during this little transition, short term," Trump told reporters. "We didn't want to penalize them."
Washington, D.C., appeared to be rowing back some of the tensions concerning tariffs, and there's now the prospect of at least some bilateral deals emerging over the coming week.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said many top trading partners of the U.S. had made "very good" proposals to avert U.S. tariffs. He also noted that one of the first deals to be signed would likely be with India this week or next.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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