Trump downplays recession fears, saying the U.S. would be ‘OK’ in the long term

President Donald Trump on Friday downplayed concerns about potential economic trouble, saying everything would be “OK” in the long term, even if the U.S economy experienced a recession in the short term.

Asked twice by “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker whether it would be OK in the long run if there were a recession in the short term, the president said, “Look, yeah, it’s — everything’s OK. What we are — I said, this is a transition period. I think we’re going to do fantastically.”

Following up, Welker asked Trump if he was worried about a recession, to which he responded, “No.” Asked whether he thinks one could happen, Trump replied, “Anything can happen, but I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country.”

The remarks come as analysts on Wall Street are increasingly worried that the country could face a recession due to Trump’s changing tariff policy.

“Well, you know, you say, ‘Some people on Wall Street say’ — well, I tell you something else. Some people on Wall Street say that we’re going to have the greatest economy in history. Why don’t you talk about them?” Trump said during the interview at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“There are many people on Wall Street say this is going to be the greatest windfall ever happen,” the president added.

According to initial measurements released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, the U.S. economy shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, a reduction largely driven by a fall in exports and a boost in imports ahead of Trump’s expected tariffs.

On Wednesday, while meeting with members of his Cabinet, Trump deflected blame for the first-quarter gross domestic product numbers, saying they were a result of the economy former President Joe Biden left behind.

“You probably saw some numbers today,” Trump said, “and I have to start off by saying, that’s Biden.”

“That’s not Trump,” he added Wednesday. “Because we came in on January, these are quarterly numbers, and we came in and I was very against everything that Biden was doing in terms of the economy, destroying our country in so many ways.”

Since the start of his administration in January, Trump has sought to impose tariffs on America’s largest trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China.

Early last month, the president paused the introduction of larger tariffs on most countries for 90 days, just days after imposing them. His partial retreat fueled a rally in markets, which as of Friday recovered the losses they suffered after his initial tariff announcement on April 2.

At the same time, Trump slapped even more tariffs on China, raising the tariff rate on the Asian nation to 145%.

Still, the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns that the tariffs on China will have major effects on the prices or availability of consumer goods in the U.S.

During the Cabinet meeting, he told reporters, “Somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”