Tamara Keith:
I think that there are repercussions, even though the policy is a little bit unclear, or it seems like it changes every 48 hours or so.
And various Trump administration officials are delivering different messages depending on what show they’re on. And then President Trump will come out on social media and say something else, for instance, his social media post saying that there were no exceptions for electronics, they’re still being tariffed, and also there might be more to come.
What the consequences end up being is that consumer sentiment is in a very bad place. And consumer sentiment also then goes forward into sentiment about the president’s performance on the economy. It is his weakest point. It is — of all of the things that are polled in terms of the president’s performance, his performance on the economy is at the bottom, which is remarkable because he came into office as the businessman who was going to shake things up.
He came into office — and generally Republicans are viewed more favorably on the economy. So to have that as his weak point does indicate that there is something happening here, that consumers are worried about a recession, and that polling — a CBS poll over the weekend indicated a large share of voters, including many Republicans, believe that prices are going to get higher as a result of this policy, at least in the short term.
