President Donald Trump once again threw markets for a loop when he made a series of off-the-cuff announcements on tariffs.
Right as Wall Street opened for trading on Monday, the unpredictable Trump posted his latest cryptic message on Truth Social. “THE BEST DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE IS THE ABILITY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE!!!” he wrote.
But Trump’s own actions have made it difficult for many to see any intelligence these days. As for predictions, Trump appeared taken aback by the stock market plunge after he imposed massive “Liberation Day” tariffs early this month.
During a pool spray with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele Monday, Trump floated the idea of slapping tariffs on pharmaceuticals the same way he imposed a 25 percent tariff on cars and steel.
“We’re doing it because we want to make our own drugs,” he said “We’re doing it because we want to make our own steel and aluminum, lumber, other things.”
Trump had already hinted at a need to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals last week during a dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
But Trump’s announcement likely killed any momentum that markets had after his administration announced new exemptions for his tariffs just last week. The latest threats of another round of tariffs are just the latest drop in the Trump tariff rollercoaster.
After the hoopla of announcing his global “Liberation Day” tariffs April 2, Trump then announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs.just seven days later. Yet at the same time he imposed a 145 percent tariff on China and kept an across-the-board 10 percent tariff on other countries.
That did not lead to de-escalation from China, but rather retaliation, with the People’s Republic of China halting vital rare earth mineral exports to the United States.
Then, late last Friday, the administration announced a flurry of exceptions to Trump’s massive 145 percent tariff against Chinese goods. The guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection noted that smartphones, flash drives, computers, semiconductors, solar cells would all be exempt from the tariffs against China.
(There is some irony here, given that just a week ago, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick boasted about a future “army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones” in the United States.)
On Sunday Lutnick proclaimed on ABC’s This Week that those exemptions would soon be removed. By the afternoon, Trump had posted on Truth Social to insist: “There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday” —even though the presidential action announced was named “Clarification of Exceptions Under Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, as Amended.”
There are signs that the American people are getting more fed up with the erratic nature of all of the tariffs. Ray Dalio, the founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, warned that a recession could be the least of the United States’ worries, and that a reorganization of the global trade structure could have catastrophic results for the nation.
“So if you take tariffs, if you take debt, if you take the rising power challenging existing power, if you take those factors and look at the factors — those changes in the orders, the systems, are very, very disruptive,” he told Meet the Press’ Kristen Welker. “How that's handled could produce something that is much worse than a recession. Or it could be handled well.”
Not everyone believes in impending doom, though. Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, whom Trump nominated late in his first term, said that he expected significant inflation, but that it could return to a moderate level by next year.
This will likely prompt people to remember when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said early in the Biden administration that inflation would be “transitory,” which Waller referred to.
“I can hear the howls already that this must be a mistake given what happened in 2021 and 2022,” he said. “But just because it didn't work out once does not mean you should never think that way again.”
Despite Trump nominating Waller, the Federal Reserve remains firmly apolitical for now. Nevertheless, the world is likely to remain off-balance and the economy shaky as Trump consistently sends out muddled signals.
The Latest: Both the US and El Salvador refuse to return wrongly deported man to the US
FEMA denies Washington state disaster relief from bomb cyclone, governor says
JD Vance mocked as he fumbles national championship trophy at White House celebration
Trump tariffs live updates: President says he’s flexible but not on electronic duties
Vance fumbles Ohio State's NCAA football championship trophy as Buckeyes visit the White House
Inside the Trump administration’s fight to imprison a wrongfully deported immigrant
