White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump’s tariffs won’t lead to “pain” for U.S. workers or American-owned businesses amid concern after “Liberation Day.”
Leavitt joined NewsNation’s “Morning in America” on Thursday morning, just a day after Trump announced a 10 percent general tariff on all imports to the U.S. and targeted tariffs on dozens of countries.
The administration has sought to frame the tariffs as a way to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., but markets around the globe plunged Thursday in response to the concern over the trade war.
“There’s not going to be any pain for American-owned companies and American workers, because their jobs are going to come back home, and again, as for prices, President Trump is working on tax cuts to put more money back into the pockets of Americans,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt argued that 90,000 factories were closed across the country and that five million manufacturing jobs had gone overseas in the last 30 years.
Trump and his team were looking to dispel concerns by arguing that the tariff agenda was going as planned, but the stock market Thursday indicated its worst day since 2020.
“I just want to address that yesterday was a great day for our country, and President Trump delivered on a campaign promise that he made to the 80 million American voters who elected him to this highest office, a promise that many presidents before him, for decades, refused to deliver upon,” Leavitt said Thursday.
Still, some Republicans have voiced concerns about the plan.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noted that his constituents have already felt the impacts of Canada’s reciprocal tariffs, as companies have pulled Kentucky-distilled bourbon from Canadian shelves.
The business community, lawmakers and economics were quick to criticize the tariffs. Critics say prices will rise for U.S. consumers and manufacturers as countries look to retaliate and handle a new era of trade.
Leavitt argued that Trump’s tariffs are a “golden rule for the golden age” regarding prices and what the American people can expect economically.
“They can expect price stability. They can expect to buy American,” she said. “It’s a patriotic thing to do, and, most importantly, they can expect their wages to go up.”
