WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump said he can’t guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won’t raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned.
The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere.
Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning “things do change.”
A look at some of the issues covered:
Trump hems on whether trade penalties could raise prices Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists’ predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. households won’t be paying more as they shop.
“I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, seeming to open the door to accepting the reality of how import levies typically work as goods reach the retail market.
That’s a different approach from Trump’s typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation.
In the interview, Trump defended tariffs generally, saying they are “going to make us rich.”
He has pledged that, on his first day in office in January, he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada unless those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. He also has threatened additional tariffs on China to help force that country to crack down on fentanyl production.
”All I want to do is I want to have a level, fast, but fair playing field,” Trump said.