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Let It Burn!
Donald Trump dismisses price increases—"That's peanuts"
"When you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing?" the president said in a new interview.
www.newsweek.com
President Donald Trump dismissed price increases on common items purchased by consumers in a Sunday interview with NBC News' Meet the Press, saying "that's peanuts compared to energy."
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has had to defend its decision to apply a 145 percent tariff on Chinese products, with many business owners, especially small business owners, raising concerns about the severe impact on pricing that the tariffs will cause.Chinese online marketplace Temu has halted shipments directly from China to the United States as the U.S. government eliminated the "de minimis" exception for Chinese goods, which would have exempted shipments under $800 from the tariffs.
At a recent Cabinet meeting, Trump underscored his defense of the tariffs, saying: "Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally."
What To Know
Trump made the comment after Meet the Press host Kristen Welker pressed him about how the cost of specific items—including tires, strollers and clothing—have increased "in the wake of your tariffs.""That's peanuts compared to energy," the president responded. "Energy is 60 percent of the costs."
"When you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing? I'm saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller some place," Trump continued, adding that mortgage rates are going down "despite the fact we have a stubborn Fed."
Welker continued to ask the president on the potential impact of tariffs, referring to his quote about dolls and asking if it was an acknowledgement of the potential cost of tariffs on everyday goods, but Trump dismissed those concerns.
"I don't think a beautiful baby girl that's 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls," Trump said. "I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China."
Trump added that he's not saying Americans will see "empty store shelves," but rather that "they don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five," later saying that "we don't need to feed the beast."
President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on May 1. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Economy
The tariff concerns remain even as the Trump administration received great news from the jobs market, with April's jobs report show that the U.S. added 177,000 jobs, far above the 135,000 expected. However, the GDP data showed the economy shrinking, which has fueled fears of an oncoming recession.Speaking on the matter of such contrasting elements within the same economy, Trump said: "I really mean this, I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy, because he's done a terrible job. He did a terrible job on everything from his auto pen, which I'm sure he knew nothing about, some of the things he was supposedly signing..."
The president added: "Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything, but I've only just been here for a little more than three months, but the stock market, look at what's happened in the last short period of time."
"Didn't it have nine or 10 days in a row or 11 days where it's gone up and the tariffs have just started kicking in, and we're doing really well," Trump continued. "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."
Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Welker took the opportunity to also address the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.Abrego Garcia, who came to the U.S. illegally, was arrested in 2019 and accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia and his legal team have denied he is a member of the gang, but two judges, in separate rulings, concluded he was, based on confidential information provided to the court. He was shielded from deportation to El Salvador because he said he would be targeted by MS-13's gangland rivals.
Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported to El Salvador in March after being arrested in what the Trump administration lawyers said was an "administrative error." His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the U.S., although his wife accused him of domestic violence and obtained a restraining order against him. They have since been reconciled.
He has been ordered to return to the U.S. by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis and a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court instructed the Trump administration to "facilitate" Garcia's release and return, but the White House has resisted efforts.
Trump recently said he could bring Abrego Garcia back but would not do so. He also said it "wouldn't bother" him to bring Abrego Garcia back stateside but said he ultimately is letting the Department of Justice (DOJ) determine the next steps.
When Welker pressed him on his comments about the situation and the limits of his power to affect the situation, he reiterated his view that ultimately the DOJ will determine what happens.
"I have lawyers to do that, and that's why I have a great DOJ, we have a great one," Trump said. "We had a very corrupt one before. Now we have a great one. And they're not viewing the decision the way you said it. They don't view it that way at all. They think it's a totally different decision."
Trump added: "I have the power to ask for him to come back, if I'm instructed by the attorney general that it's legal to do so, but the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador is a very capable man."
What People Are Saying
Ahmed Baba, co-founder and president of Rantt Media, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday: "While Trump proudly raises prices on Americans and preaches scarcity, he is grifting hundreds of millions of dollars in his crypto ventures as he directly profits off the presidency. Just an unprecedented level of corruption while he economically harms everyday Americans."Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Fox Business on Friday that Trump "mentioned to the American people over and over again that the Golden Age was coming. I will tell you the Golden Age is here...This is another great jobs' report...Better than expected."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asked whether he was concerned about empty shelves, recently told Fox & Friends: "Not at present ... We have some great retailers. I assume they pre-ordered. I think we'll see some elasticities. I think we'll see replacements, and then we will see how quickly the Chinese want to de-escalate."
