The morning after Donald Trump unveiled his radical policy on trade tariffs, top members of the president’s team insisted that the White House was not engaged in a negotiating ploy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, for example, said on Thursday morning, “I don’t think there’s any chance Trump is going to back off” on tariffs. Around the same time, appeared on CNBC and declared, “This is not a negotiation.”
What’s more, The Washington Post reported that White House officials “circulated internal talking points telling surrogates that the tariffs should not be characterized as a starting point for negotiations.”
Hours later, Trump was asked if he hoped to make deals with countries targeted with tariffs. “That depends,” he replied. The president added, “The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
A day later, Trump published some related items to his social media platform, arguing that his trade tariffs “are here to stay.” He also wrote, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”
Got it. Over the course of roughly 36 hours, as global markets shed trillions in wealth, the White House’s position was that the administration was both for and against dealmaking on tariffs, while the president was both open and closed to tweaking his tariffs agenda.
Perhaps, some might argue, Trump and his team — which had ostensibly prepared for months for this moment — just needed a little more time to fine-tune their messaging. Sure, the argument goes, there were contradictions and mixed messages in the immediate aftermath of the president’s rollout in the Rose Garden, but these guys would get their act together soon after.
Those who believed this were soon proven wrong. Consider what the public heard on the Sunday shows:
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” and said, “There is no postponing. [The tariffs] are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks. That is sort of obvious. … He announced it, and he wasn’t kidding, the tariffs are coming.”
- White House economic adviser Peter Navarro said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” in reference to the administration’s tariffs policy, “This is not a negotiation.”
- National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appeared on ABC News’ “This Week” and boasted about all of the countries that are eager to negotiate with the White House. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made similar comments on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and when asked why the White House would impose tariffs on an island inhabited entirely by penguins, the Cabinet secretary literally responded, “I mean, come on, whatever.”
Behold, the Trump administration’s fine-tuned messaging machine.
It’s possible that the White House wants to deliberately create confusion about what it’s doing and why, but it seems far easier to believe that Team Trump literally doesn’t know what it’s talking about.
Offered a chance to clear things up, the president — who spent the weekend golfing — told reporters aboard Air Force One that he didn’t intend to back off his damaging policy, unless other countries effectively start paying the United States annual reparations.
Trump, who has long struggled to understand trade deficits on a conceptual level, added that one of his principal goals is eliminating trade deficits.
Observers, here and around the world, looking for evidence that the White House is approaching this crisis in a sensible, mature and reasoned way were left wanting.
