President Donald Trump tried to rally confidence and courage ahead of Monday’s continuing stock market plunge, telling Americans: “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid!”
“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” he posted on his Truth Social account minutes before opening bell.
“Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!” he wrote, while apparently inventing a new word in “panican.”
The stock market instead opened to a third straight day of decline since Trump unveiled his sweeping tariffs against some of the country’s biggest trading partners.
The S&P 500 fell 1.4%, with this decline following it experiencing its worst week since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also dropped 1,700 points, though it gained some of its weight back by noon. Roughly $10 trillion has been wiped out from equity markets worldwide, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Trump has forecast that his tariffs will bring in $1 trillion to the country by next year, though he’s also acknowledged that Americans may feel “a little pain” as a result, which he said will be “short term” and something people will understand.
“It’s to be expected where this is a patient that was very sick,” he said last week of any immediate hardships felt by American consumers.
Economists have meanwhile forecast gross domestic product (GDP) to fall, inflation to rise, and they have continuously raised the probability of a U.S. recession taking place within the next 12 months.
“Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jami Dimon said Monday.
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JPMorgan Chase last week raised its odds of a recession occurring from 40% to 60% by year end. Goldman Sachs on Monday raised its odds from 20% to 35%.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday said that the central bank will hold off on moving interest rates until it better understands the impacts of Trump’s tariffs, which he said he expects will raise inflation and unemployment.