As former President Donald Trump approaches his second presidency’s 100th day, there’s plenty of time to judge outcomes. He now finds himself with a 41 percent approval rating, one of the lowest for a newly elected president in nearly 70 years. And indeed, Trump is already preparing to shower that victory with praise—with a celebratory rally in Michigan. This small state has been pivotal in his electoral win last year.
Trump’s economic strategy has drawn particular scrutiny, with approval ratings for his approach sinking to a career low of 39 percent. Just this month, he launched a direct attack on atypically broad retaliatory tariffs on foreign trading partners. This unprecedented and bold move has raised eyebrows and fears among economists and critics. This administration today begins the second week of a 90-day pause on these tariffs they imposed. Worse still, China is the only country that is profiting from this break.
As defenders of the current industrial strategy, Messrs. He also bragged that he had negotiated trade deals with 200 countries while leaving the names of the countries a mystery. This lack of clarity has created mistrust around the true number of agreements reached. Scott Bessent, a close advisor to Trump, acknowledged that only 17 or 18 deals have been made under his administration.
Brooke Rollins, the Agriculture Secretary, remarked on the fluctuating nature of public opinion regarding Trump’s policies, stating, “There are a hundred different polls that say 100 different things.” Regardless of partisanship, Trump’s bold economic initiatives are provoking some interesting reactions. He wants to refocus the American economy to serve domestic priorities first and foremost.
Bessent voiced support for the administration’s hard-hitting tariff policy. He thinks it’s a great example of a concept in game theory called “strategic uncertainty.” He remarked, “In game theory it’s called strategic uncertainty. So, you’re not going to tell the person on the other side of the negotiation where you’re going to end up. And nobody’s better at creating this leverage than President Trump.”
Although there is deep skepticism about the impact of his economic policies, Trump is bullish on their future success at macroeconomic scale. And finally, he implied that recent volatility in the stock market does not paint the full picture of what’s going on economically. “There was a story 10 days ago that said, this is the worst April for the stock market since the Great Depression,” Bessent noted. He went on to highlight a recent shift in market performance: “Ten days later, the Nasdaq is now up in the month of April. And I just haven’t seen a narrative that goes, ‘oh, the stock market has largest rebound in history.’
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