Tuesday’s White House press briefing came nearly 24 hours before President Donald Trump’s alleged blockbuster tariffs against foreign countries around the globe, so the questions naturally skewed toward this issue and good-faith, legitimate questions for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt from Fox’s Peter Doocy and Edward Lawrence, NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer, NOTUS’s Jasmine Wright, and Politico’s Dasha Burns.
2WayApp’s Mark Halperin led off the briefing in the new media seat, starting with tariffs and specifically what factors Trump would take in place to remove any if foreign companies and/or countries reached out:
Fox’s Peter Doocy came next and again proved a change in administration didn’t mean he was going to let up in the difficulty of his questions:
Doocy moved onto Tuesday’s elections, but not before one simple follow-up: “And you said that the President now is with the trade and tariff team. They are very confident that this is all going to work. But what if they’re wrong?”
Leavitt insisted “they are not going to be wrong” because Trump “has a brilliant team of advisors who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focused on restoring the golden age of America and making America manufacturing superpower and....I would point you to the investments that have already trickled into this country.”
NOTUS’s Jasmine Wright had another straightforward but important question to consider: “[W]hat, if any, market indicators is the White House looking for to see if this tariffs plan is successful down the line?”
Leavitt replied Trump had already “answered this question about the stock market and whether he’s watching it” and “the focus of these tariffs” is “ensur[ing] that all Americans make out well, particularly Main Street.”
Formerly with NBC, Burns brought up a concern about Americans looking to buy cars from foreign automakers (which could include, say, Hyundai and Toyota):
A few minutes later, Kellie Meyer from the good people at NewsNation cited back a statement Trump made about tariffs on Inauguration Day:
Fox Business’s Edward Lawrence closed out the briefing with one about tariffs as it related to Canada:
On a non-tariff note, Frontlines’s Monica Luisi sought comment on allegations made by Elon Musk about illegal immigrants receiving Social Security:
To see the relevant transcript from the April 1 briefing (including even more questions), click here.
