Trump blames ‘globalists’ for stock market sell-off

Trump blames ‘globalists’ for stock market sell-off


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks 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

Major stock indices dropped sharply this week, as rattled investors struggled to get a handle on President Donald Trump’s sweeping and shifting tariff policies.

But when asked in the Oval Office on Thursday whether he thought it was his tariffs that were scaring the markets, Trump pinned the blame elsewhere.

“Well, a lot of them are globalist countries and companies that won’t be doing as well,” Trump replied, “Because we’re taking back things that have been taken from us many years ago.”

Trump did not elaborate on what those things were.

“We’ve been treated very unfairly as a country,” he continued. “We protect everybody. We do everything for all these countries, and a lot of these are globalist in nature.”

It was not clear what was globalist in nature, but NBC reported Thursday that the Trump administration is considering an overhaul of how it interacts with NATO allies.

Later in the same press event, Trump again blamed “globalists” for the market downturn. “I think it’s globalists that see how rich our country’s going to be, and they don’t like it.”

Over the course of an hour, Trump used “globalist” to describe people, companies and countries, making it difficult to pin down specifically what he was talking about.

But during his first term, Trump repeatedly denounced a set of ideas he called “globalism,” and labeled some of his political opponents “globalists,” as he pushed his nationalist, isolationist worldview.

The word has drawn condemnation from critics who say it is linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish people.

According to the American Jewish Committee, the term “globalist” is used today as “a coded word for Jews who are seen as international elites conspiring to weaken or dismantle ‘Western’ society using their international connections and control over big corporations.”

It was unusual for Trump to use the term “globalist” as a catch-all for what he claimed was driving day-to-day movements of the stock market.

The White House did not immediately reply when asked for additional context about Trump’s invocation of the term.

The Oval Office remarks came as Trump, just two days after imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, issued temporary exemptions for many goods coming into the U.S. from the two neighboring countries.

He denied that those pauses came in response to the market rout.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

“Nothing to do with the market,” he said, adding, “I’m not even looking at the market.”

Even as Trump seemed to reject the idea that his tariffs spurred a sell-off, he once again acknowledged that those duties could at least briefly roil markets.

“There’ll always be a little short term interruption,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be big, but the countries and companies that have been ripping us aren’t particularly happy with what I’m doing.”

“Again, there’ll be disruption,” he added.



Source

Trump ‘soft, weak and afraid’ in firing labor statistics chief McEntarfer: Wyden
Politics

Trump ‘soft, weak and afraid’ in firing labor statistics chief McEntarfer: Wyden

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee called President Donald Trump’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday “the act of somebody who is soft, weak and afraid to own up to the reality of the damage his chaos is inflicting on our economy.” “Bottom line, Trump wants to cook […]

Read More
Texas researcher faces deportation after being held for a week at San Francisco airport
Politics

Texas researcher faces deportation after being held for a week at San Francisco airport

Travelers outside San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, US, on Friday, May 23, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images A researcher at Texas A&M University flying home from abroad was detained for more than a week by immigration authorities at the San Francisco International Airport, sleeping in a chair and living […]

Read More
Trump fires commissioner of labor statistics to be fired after weaker-than-expected jobs figures slam markets
Politics

Trump fires commissioner of labor statistics to be fired after weaker-than-expected jobs figures slam markets

Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Donald Trump on Friday demanded the firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, hours after the agency reported that job growth in the U.S. had slowed to a near-halt. In a Truth Social post that also directed even more fire at Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Trump accused BLS […]

Read More