Trump blasts 'dishonest interview' during contentious debate on tariffs
Print Close
By David Spector
Published May 04, 2025
President Donald Trump and "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker sparred over tariffs and the economy Sunday, with the president blasting the "dishonest interview" to the host's face.
"This is such a dishonest interview already. Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil prices are down for oil. Energy prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline," Trump said when pressed on his tariff policies.
When pressed by Welker about rising costs on items such as tires and strollers, he dismissed price increases on such goods as "peanuts compared to energy," which the president claimed his policies have made cheaper. Gas prices hit their peak during Biden's sole term in office at an average of $5.06 per gallon in June 2022, the highest on record. The price of gas has steadily dropped since then, and the average national price of gas today is roughly $3.16 a gallon, according to AAA.
VANCE BREAKS KEY TIE AFTER SENATE FAILS TO REJECT TRUMP'S NATIONAL EMERGENCY ON TARIFFS
"Strollers are going up. What kind of a thing? I'm saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or something," Trump said.
Trump made headlines during his cabinet meeting on Wednesday when he remarked that "maybe children will have two dolls instead of thirty dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more" as a result of his tariff policies. He denied the tariffs would result in empty store shelves, but did acknowledge that some Americans may need to cut down on their purchases.
"The don't need to have 250 pencils, they can have five… I'm basically saying we don't have to waste money on a trade deficit with China for things we don't need, for junk that we don't need."
LIBERATION DAY AND TRUMP TARIFFS ARE NOT THE END OF TRADE. IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING
Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on virtually every country America does business with on April 2, on what he refers to as "Liberation Day," in addition to a 10% global tariff. The levies applied to friend and foe alike, with Vietnam being slapped with a 46% tariff and Israel receiving 17% tariffs on goods exported to the United States.
Trump swiftly reversed course a few days later in the face of a stock market nosedive and bond market worries, pausing the reciprocal tariffs. He maintained the 10% global tariff as well as a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, however. Mexico and Canada are facing separate 25% tariffs related to the fentanyl crisis.
Trump maintained that his tariffs would "make us rich" and that the country was already profiting from them. He said that Americans were already feeling economic relief due to declining mortgage rates and energy prices.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
"Mortgage rates are going down, despite the fact that we have a stubborn fed… I can tell you that we're making a lot of money. We're doing great. Again, we're losing more than $5 billion a day, $5 billion a day. You don't talk about that. And right now we're going to be at a point very soon where we're making money every day," Trump said.
Trump shot down Welker's claim, saying that Wall Street insiders were worried about a recession, and said he has spoken to many on Wall Street who are saying that his tariffs will be a boon for the economy.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Print Close
URL
https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-blasts-dishonest-interview-during-contentious-debate-tariffs
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
39 minutes ago
- Axios
U.S. has "no interest" in putting troops on the ground in Iran, Vance says
Vice President Vance said Sunday that the United States doesn't plan to send ground troops into Iran and there is "no interest" in engaging in a "protracted conflict" with the nation. The big picture: Vance and other Trump administration officials appeared on Sunday shows to praise President Trump 's decision to carry out a series of airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear sites, while reassuring Americans that the mission — dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer — isn't the launching point for a wider conflict. Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Vance called the mission a "precise, a very surgical strike tailored to an American national interest" — preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — and that he had "no fear" of a drawn-out conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the sentiment on CBS' "Face the Nation," saying that there are no plans from the U.S. to engage in further attacks on Iran unless they "mess around" and attack Americans or U.S. military sites. What they're saying: Rubio said Sunday that the U.S. carried out the attack after efforts to negotiate with Iran stalled, but that Trump administration officials are "prepared to talk to them tomorrow." Both men also dismissed the notion that the U.S. is at war with Iran, with Vance stating that the war is with Iran's nuclear program. "We destroyed the Iranian nuclear program. I think we set that program back substantially," Vance told NBC News' Kristen Welker. Zoom out: Vance and Rubio were unable to confirm the extent of the damage done to the nuclear sites, but Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told CNN that the strike was a "betrayal of diplomacy." "No one knows what will happen next, but what is sure is that the responsibility of the consequences of this war must be borne by the United States and Israel," he said. Bagahei refused to say how Iran might respond to the U.S. strike, but said the nation is entitled to "exercise its right of self-defense."
CNN
40 minutes ago
- CNN
Dem. Senator Adam Schiff says 'we simply don't know' if US is safer after Iran strikes
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff speaks to Kasie Hunt about the congressional response to President Trump's order to strike Iran.
TechCrunch
40 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Moratorium on state AI regulation clears Senate hurdle
A Republican effort to prevent states from enforcing their own AI regulations cleared a key procedural hurdle on Saturday. The rule, as reportedly rewritten by Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz in an attempt to comply with budgetary rules, would withhold federal broadband funding from states if they try to enforce AI regulations in the next 10 years. And the rewrite seems to have passed muster, with the Senate Parliamentarian now ruling that the provision is not subject to the so-called Byrd rule — so it can be included in Republicans' 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' and passed with a simple majority, without potentially getting blocked by a filibuster, and without requiring support from Senate Democrats. However, it's not clear how many Republicans will support the moratorium. For example, Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee recently said, 'We do not need a moratorium that would prohibit our states from stepping up and protecting citizens in their state.' And while the House of Representatives already passed a version of the bill that included a moratorium on AI regulation, far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene subbsequently declared that she is 'adamantly OPPOSED' the provision as 'a violation of state rights' and said it needs to be 'stripped out in the Senate.' House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the provision by saying it had President Donald Trump's support and arguing, 'We have to be careful not to have 50 different states regulating AI, because it has national security implications, right?' In a recent report, Americans for Responsible Innovation (an advocacy group for AI regulation), wrote that 'the proposal's broad language could potentially sweep away a wide range of public interest state legislation regulating AI and other algorithmic-based technologies, creating a regulatory vacuum across multiple technology policy domains without offering federal alternatives to replace the eliminated state-level guardrails.' Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW A number of states do seem to be taking steps toward AI regulation. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a high-profile AI safety bill last year while signing a number of less controversial regulations around issues like privacy and deepfakes. In New York, an AI safety bill passed by state lawmakers is awaiting Governor Kathy Hochul's signature. And Utah has passed its own regulations around AI transparency.
