U.S. President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office, on the day he signs executive orders, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 6, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Thursday that his administration would not consider stock market reaction when hammering out the details of its tariff policy.
When asked whether the decision to pause tariffs on many products from Canada and Mexico for one month was due to the stock market, Trump said the decision had “nothing to do with the market. I’m not even looking at the market, because long term the United States will be very strong with what is happening here.”
“This is very much about companies and countries that have ripped off this country, our country, our beloved United States. And they’re not going to be ripping us off any more. So, you know, I think that has an impact on the market,” the president added.
Trump made the remarks in the Oval Office on Thursday at an event for signing executive orders. Trump was later asked again about the market sell-off and blamed “globalists,” a term he had used to describe companies and countries earlier in the event.
“I think it’s globalists that see how rich our country’s going to be and they don’t like it. Big market out there. But again, they’ve been ripping off this country for years. And they’re going to do great — everyone’s going to do great. But we can’t let this continue to happen to America. Otherwise we’re not going to have a country any longer,” the president said.
The comments come as the stock market has struggled in recent days, with the major Wall Street averages heading for a losing week. On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite closed more than 10% below its recent high, putting the tech-heavy index into correction territory.
Some on Wall Street have hoped that Trump, who was seen as friendly to business during his first term and as a candidate, would consider the stock market as something of an approval rating. This idea is sometimes called the “Trump put,” a play on options terminology that suggests the president would keep the stock market from falling too far.
However, the Trump administration has continued to take an aggressive posture on trade in recent days even when it has seemingly sparked a sell-off in stocks, and Nomura economists said in a note that the reality of Trump’s first term casts doubt on the “Trump put” idea.
Also on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that Trump’s focus was broader than the daily moves of the stock market.
“The president wants American growth and American prosperity, OK? And the fact that the stock market goes down half a percent or percent, it goes up half a percent or percent, that is not the driving force of our outcomes,” Lutnick said on CNBC Thursday. “The president is focused on rebuilding America, and you are going to see growth in America. … You’re going to see interest rates drop 1% or more. You’re going to see the stock market explode.”