Donald Trump sees an opportunity to “change the fabric” of the United States with his sprawling plan to institute new global tariffs — a policy that has had markets shaking for days while cracks form in his political coalition.
But even as the president, administration officials and key allies say he will not back down from his tariff plan, they are looking for ways to ease the concerns of wary supporters. The measures include talking up the potential to cut deals with key trading partners, pointing to tax cuts as a way to balance out the economic hit and deploying officials to speak to jittery business groups.
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“The feeling among Hill Republicans is we’ve got to get rolling on the tax cuts right now,” a senior Senate Republican aide said. “We have to offer some candy to the business community in terms of offering them certainty and helping with pro-growth policies.”
Two administration officials confirmed that members of the administration were taking calls from business groups and setting up private meetings to allay worries.
“The Trump administration maintains regular contact with business leaders, industry groups, and everyday Americans, especially about major policy decisions like President Trump’s reciprocal tariff action,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “The only special interest guiding President Trump’s decision-making, however, is the best interest of the American people — such as addressing the national emergency posed by our country running chronic trade deficits.”
The tariffs — which could quickly become the defining policy of his second term — put two core Trump identities in conflict: the protectionist who spent decades calling for steeper tariffs to combat what he sees as the country’s being ripped off by its trading partners, and the deal-maker, the persona he spent years building in New York real estate and as the protagonist of “The Apprentice.”
“Nobody but me would do this,” Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office. “You know, it would be nice to serve a nice, easy term, but we have an opportunity to change the fabric of our country. We have an opportunity to reset the table on trade.”
Allies push back
Markets have not been fans of resetting the table. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 had smaller dips Monday as administration officials talked up dealmaking and a misleading headline briefly led investors to believe Trump was pausing the measures. Since Wednesday, when Trump announced his tariffs — which were calculated using a widely derided formula based on U.S. trade deficits with other countries — the Dow and the S&P 500 have both declined by more than 10%.
Trump’s billionaire backers and business executives are sounding the alarm. On Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Trump’s tariffs will weigh down the economy and raise prices. Bill Ackman, the outspoken Trump supporter and billionaire hedge fund executive, railed against the policies in a series of social media posts over the weekend, calling on Trump’s advisers to revise their tariff formula “before the President makes a big mistake,” suggesting all capital gains will be wiped out in 2025. Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports and a vocal Trump supporter, readied for a turbulent day for markets Monday that he proclaimed “#orangemonday,” a not-so-thinly veiled shot at the president.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles made at least one phone call over the weekend to an associate asking about the level of concern in the private sector about the market downturn, according to a person close to the White House.
Another member of the business community who seems displeased by Trump’s tariff agenda is Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who has been Trump’s right-hand man in rapidly slashing government programs and workers. Musk promoted free trade and went after Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser, saying Navarro “ain’t built s–t.” He also also laughed at at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s explanation for the administration’s placing tariffs on an uninhabited island.
A senior White House official, who insisted Trump’s team is not worried about cracks forming in the coalition, said, “Elon is entitled to his own opinion.”
Against that backdrop, Trump started his Monday calling for supporters to weather the storm.
“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”
A White House official stressed Monday that the president and the White House have no set period for how long they would endure the market strain, emphasizing that offering such a timeline would open Trump up to additional criticism should they continue past it.
But administration officials, including Trump, spent the last few days touting how many countries are calling them up to cut deals to avert or lower the new tariffs, with multiple officials touting outreach from 50 countries.
“They’re offering things to us that we wouldn’t have even considered asking for,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office.
The White House official named Vietnam, Cambodia, Israel and Poland as countries seeking to quickly come to agreements.
Both Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday praised a call with Japanese officials to negotiate an agreement while criticizing China for quickly retaliating against Trump’s new measures. Trump has threatened further escalation with China if it does not withdraw its retaliatory tariffs by Tuesday, saying he will impose an additional 50% tariff on top of what he has already proposed.
There is a universe where the Trump administration ramps up a trade war with China while cutting deals with other countries. Steve Bannon, a Trump ally and former top White House official, said Monday the trade war would soon focus much more on China.
China “dared to cross Trump with retaliation after they had been warned,” Bannon said. “The Trade War they have been pursuing for years against America is now going to get hot. Isolated from the world, this is a war China can’t win.”
‘The markets don’t scare him’
The White House and the president himself continue to offer mixed messaging about their game plan. Asked Monday whether the tariffs are permanent or open to negotiation, Trump insisted that “they can both be true.”
Other administration officials have been more insistent that the tariffs are coming regardless of any negotiations. Lutnick said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “there is no postponing” the new tariffs, claiming it will soon be a reality that “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing, is going to come to America.”
“They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks,” Lutnick said of the measures.
Asked about Vietnam in an interview Sunday on Fox News, Navarro said, “This is not a negotiation.” On Monday, he told CNBC that Vietnam’s offering to reduce its tariffs to zero “means nothing to us, because it’s the non-tariff cheating that matters.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said more clarity about the tariffs from Trump “would help a lot.”
“Some of the president’s aides are saying we need to do this to raise money; other aides are saying we need to do this to make other countries pay us back for ripping off America through unfair trade,” Kennedy said. “Others have said it’s good news because many countries want to lower their tariffs, in some cases to zero, which I happen to think is good news. They’re just all over the map.”
“I think it would be better if they would talk to their boss and find out what the message is,” he added. “It’d actually be better if some of them would shut up, but that’s not likely to happen.”
A senior Senate GOP aide who supports Trump’s effort to reorient global trade reiterated that congressional Republicans “don’t really know what’s going on.”
“This is what he’s wanted to do his whole life,” this person said. “And he does not care. He truly believes this and wants to correct it. The markets don’t scare him. He’s just going to push through.”
The White House sought Monday to promote support of his policy, highlighting comments from groups like the United Auto Workers and the National Council of Textile Organizations.
“I think there’s some who believe in what he is doing and the need for short-term pain to address long-standing trade imbalances and some who think this is pure chaos with no real thought behind it,” said a Republican strategist who has worked with the White House previously. “Corporate world is frustrated with the lack of clarity. Political world is frustrated that he and the White House have not made their case in a consistent enough way.”
Congressional unrest
On Tuesday and Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will testify before the Senate and House about Trump’s trade policy. In his opening remarks Tuesday, he plans to tell senators that Argentina, Vietnam, Israel and other countries have already indicated they will reduce their tariffs and non-tariff barriers to come to agreements.
Although seven Senate Republicans have already signed on to a bill that would curtail Trump’s tariff powers — a bill he pledged Monday to veto if it is passed — two Republicans who spoke with NBC News said House Republicans are more nervous about the tariffs than their Senate counterparts. Those rank-and-file Republicans are starting to panic about the markets and want more guidance from the White House about Trump’s long-term strategy.
During a House GOP conference call Sunday, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, asked whether they could get a detailed briefing from the White House on tariffs, according to two people on the call. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told members that he would talk to Trump and vowed to arrange for someone in the administration to brief the conference, the sources said. They added that Johnson counseled members during Sunday’s conference call to just trust the tariff process and stand by Trump’s trade policy, arguing he helped deliver a strong economy during his first term.
But there are some signs of anxiety even among GOP leaders. Johnson has argued, both in a “Dear Colleague” letter over the weekend and on the conference call, that they need to quickly coalesce around a budget resolution — which Republicans need to unlock Trump’s tax and spending cut package — because of the market turmoil.
“There is a fork in the road as to what’s going to happen,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast Monday. “If President Trump uses this moment as leverage, he’s got an extraordinary opportunity to lower tariffs of every country on Earth to U.S. goods and lower our own tariffs in response. … On the other hand, there are voices in the White House that want high tariffs forever. There are angels and demons sitting on President Trump’s shoulders. Who does he listen to? I hope he listens to the angels.”
Stephen Moore, a former economic adviser to Trump, said Trump must more effectively target his tariffs. Ultimately, the end game should be to negotiate new trade agreements.
“At the end of the day, the only solution here that I can see is for the other countries to start making those phone calls to the Oval Office and making some deals with Trump,” he said.
Trump spent the past weekend golfing at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, providing plenty of material to critics who said he was not taking the market downturn seriously.
A person who was at the LIV Golf Tournament said the tariffs and the market downturn were not front and center.
“It is not something that was much of a topic of conversation,” the person said. “I think there was sort of a storm cloud over it to some degree. I mean, people in the room were aware, no doubt, but it was just not the forum to bring it up, and it’s not like the sort of people who were going to bring up bad news or try and check Trump.”
Democratic activists organized large, nationwide protests Saturday opposing his administration, at which some protesters held signs decrying the impact of his policies on their 401(k) investments.
A White House official told NBC News that Trump was not concerned about the optics of golfing amid the economic turmoil.
This person said Trump’s golfing during the market strain was like “going to a birthday party after a friend has had surgery,” adding that he can enjoy his time in Florida while continuing to work when needed on weekends.
The official then expressed what administration officials are confident of — for now.
“The economy will be fine,” this person said.
