Trump’s economic policies will lead to long-term economic gains, and the recent stock market turmoil is temporary growing pain, the press secretary says.
In the face of waning consumer and business confidence, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on March 11 that the Trump administration’s economic policies would lead to long-term economic gains and that the recent stock market turmoil was part of temporary growing pains.
Economic anxiety deepened in February as households and small businesses braced for a challenging year ahead, with reports from the Federal Reserve and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) highlighting growing financial pessimism.
Amid the downturn, the White House said that current economic uncertainty is part of a necessary transition away from the Biden administration’s economic policies that it said led to an “economic disaster.”
“We are in a period of economic transition,” Leavitt said at a press briefing on March 11. “We are in a period of transition from the mess that was created under Joe Biden in the previous administration.”Leavitt pointed to high delinquency rates on credit card loans—which hit a 12-year high under the previous administration—as well as high inflation that eroded wage gains during Biden’s term, to support the White House view that some short-term difficulties are inevitable as the economy transitions from an “economic nightmare” to “a golden age of American manufacturing.”
She acknowledged consumer unease and said that Trump’s agenda—centered on deregulation, tax cuts, and a revitalized manufacturing sector—would ultimately restore confidence. She noted previous economic gains under President Donald Trump as evidence that his policies work, asking Americans to remain patient as the economy adjusts.
The White House’s reassurances come as new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York paints a picture of rising economic anxiety. The probability of rising unemployment jumped 5.4 percentage points to 39.4 percent, its highest level since September 2023. Expectations of missing a debt payment climbed to 14.6 percent, the highest reading since April 2020. Younger Americans and those without a college degree were hit hardest by these concerns.
By Tom Ozimek
