President Donald Trump‘s flip-flopping on tariffs has business leaders struggling to make long-term plans, but he did little to quell these concerns in an interview with Fox Business Friday.
Host Maria Bartiromo pointed out that businesses and their CEOs “want to see predicability” when it comes to tariffs. “Can you give us a sense of whether or not we are going to get clarity for the business community?” she asked.
Trump gave yet another indecisive answer.
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“Well, I think so, but you know the tariffs could go up as time goes by, and they may go up, and I don’t know if it’s predictability,” the president said.
Bartiromo noted that his answer did not make things any clearer: “So, that’s not clarity.”
The president’s back-and-forth on tariffs against Mexico and Canada has rattled stock markets and fueled uncertainty for businesses and consumers.
On Tuesday, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Following a drop in the stock market, on Thursday he postponed tariffs until April 2 on products from the two countries that are covered by the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.
Trump also doubled tariffs on Chinese goods last month, raising them from 10 to 20 percent, effective this week. In response, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, slammed Trump on Friday, accusing him of being “two-faced” in his dealings with Beijing and threatening retaliation.
Trump’s inconsistent policies have even left officials in his administration uncertain about the plan forward, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying on Sunday that tariffs on Canada and Mexico remain a “fluid situation.”
On Fox Business, Trump pivoted away from Bartiromo’s initial question, assailing the United States’s global trade partners without naming one in particular.
“This country has been ripped off from every nation in the world, every company outside in the world. We’ve been ripped off at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “All we’re going to do is get it back. We’re going to get a lot of it back. We’re not going to let people take advantage of us anymore.”
Trump said tariffs would ensure the U.S. reclaims some of the wealth sapped away by “globalists.”
“For years, the globalists—the big globalists—have been ripping off the United States,” he began. “They’ve been taking money away from the United States, and all we’re doing is getting some of it back, and we’re going to treat our country fairly.”
Axios reported Friday that Trump is “building a reputation for himself as the flip-flopper in chief” due to his unpredictable policies.
Among lawmakers criticizing the president this week was Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, who took to X on Friday to denounce Trump’s fluctuating tariff policies.
“Trump’s repeated flip flops on imposing indiscriminate tariffs shows weakness and indecision, and sows chaos,” Lieu wrote.
