Latest news with #Liesman
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CNBC Star: Wall Street Bankers Are Laughing at Trump's Economic Excuses
CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Liesman said Thursday that Donald Trump's excuse for his tariff-induced economic chaos has caused 'a lot of laughter around Wall Street.' On MSNBC's Deadline: White House, Liesman described investors' reaction to Trump's refusal to accept responsibility for the recent stock market volatility—and blaming his predecessor, Joe Biden. 'Well, he tried yesterday to blame the stock market on Biden, and I think there was a lot of laughter around Wall Street I think on that one,' Liesman said. 'I think that people pretty squarely put this on the shoulders of President Trump.' Members of the Trump administration all got the memo to blame Biden on Wednesday, when a report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found that the gross domestic product had contracted by 0.3 percent last quarter. 'You probably saw some numbers today,' Trump said at the Cabinet meeting that afternoon, 'and I have to start off by saying that's Biden.' Vice President JD Vance made the same argument in a Fox News interview Thursday night. 'This is Joe Biden's economy,' he said in response to anchor Bret Baier noting the first quarterly GDP slip in three years. Trump, of course, has long tried to have it both ways regarding positive and negative economic indicators. In January 2024—three years removed from office—he gloated about 'the Trump stock market' reaching a record high. His rationale then was that the release of favorable poll results against Biden led to investors predicting a GOP win. Liesman, who called Trump's tariff policies 'insane' due to the 'made-up numbers' used by the administration in its calculations, also warned of an impending blow to suppliers. 'This supply shock is not easily handled through the normal tools that we handle downturns in, which is that you end up trying to get people to buy more,' he said. 'But if the problem is that there's not enough stuff and people are losing their jobs because of that, goosing demand is not going to help.' 'And there's a second element to this that is more worrisome to me, which is that the normal circuit breaker on this tends to be government spending,' Liesman continued. 'And what's happening with government spending, that's coming down. At the same time, you have the supply shock. So, we could be in for a twofer here over time.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CNBC's Liesman: Trump tariffs like steering Titanic ‘toward the iceberg'
CNBC's senior economics reporter Steve Liesman said that President Trump's new sweeping tariffs are equal to steering the Titanic 'toward the iceberg.' 'And I guess another way to think about it is this. You know, the Titanic hit an iceberg by accident. This is the equivalent of steering the Titanic towards the iceberg,' Liesman said during his Friday night appearance on MSNBC's 'All In' show. 'What's not happening here is the market is not pricing in some form of 'golden age' where manufacturing comes back to America and this country prospers as a result of that,' Liesman told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. 'The market prices in future values and that's not happening.' Trump rolled out a new package of tariffs, targeting nearly every country in the world. He imposed a flat 10 percent tariff on all goods coming into the country and steeper reciprocal tariffs against dozens of nations. The president and his allies have argued that the new tariff agenda will improve domestic manufacturing, increase the number of jobs in the U.S. and help out with stemming the flow of illegal drugs into the country. Trump doubled down on his administration's trade approach, saying the U.S. has been a 'dumb and helpless 'whipping post,' but not any longer. We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT, and rising fast!' Despite standing behind the newly implemented tariffs, the stock market has dropped in recent days, a majority of Americans disapprove of the economic approach and experts have issued warnings about a potential recession. Liesman, who has expressed opposition to Trump's trade policies before, said on MSNBC that '[I]f you take a step back, what's really happening here, Chris, is the market is pricing in the high probability of a recession.' 'That's really what this is all about right now. How much? How little? We don't know. I will say that if there is going to be a recession, there could be further for stocks to fall here,' the veteran financial news analyst said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
05-04-2025
- Business
- The Hill
CNBC's Liesman: Trump tariffs like steering Titanic ‘toward the iceberg'
CNBC's senior economics reporter Steve Liesman said that President Trump's new sweeping tariffs are equal to steering the Titanic 'toward the iceberg.' 'And I guess another way to think about it is this. You know, the Titanic hit an iceberg by accident. This is the equivalent of steering the Titanic towards the iceberg,' Liesman said during his Friday night appearance on MSNBC's 'All In' show. 'What's not happening here is the market is not pricing in some form of 'golden age' where manufacturing comes back to America and this country prospers as a result of that,' Liesman told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. 'The market prices in future values and that's not happening.' Trump rolled out a new package of tariffs, targeting nearly every country in the world. He imposed a flat 10 percent tariff on all goods coming into the country and steeper reciprocal tariffs against dozens of nations. The president and his allies have argued that the new tariff agenda will improve domestic manufacturing, increase the number of jobs in the U.S. and help out with stemming the flow of illegal drugs into the country. Trump doubled down on his administration's trade approach, saying the U.S. 'has been 'dumb and helpless 'whipping post,' but not any longer. We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before. Already, more than FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT, and rising fast!' Despite standing behind the newly-implemented tariffs, the stock market has dropped in recent days, a majority of Americans disapprove of the economic approach and experts have issued warnings about a potential recession. Liesman, who has expressed opposition to Trump's trade policies before, said on MSNBC that '[I]f you take a step back, what's really happening here, Chris, is the market is pricing in the high probability of a recession.' 'That's really what this is all about right now. How much? How little? We don't know. I will say that if there is going to be a recession, there could be further for stocks to fall here,' The veteran financial news analyst said.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CNBC reporter trashes Trump for ‘made-up' tariff rates: ‘Nobody ever heard of this formula!'
CNBC reporter Steve Liesman assailed Donald Trump on Thursday for the 'made-up' way his administration calculated the 'Liberation Day' tariffs, which the president claimed were reciprocal rates based on how much other nations were charging the United States. While the president made little mention of the methodology behind the calculations, which he unveiled on a giant poster in the Rose Garden, financial journalist James Surowiecki quickly deduced that the White House merely took the trade deficit America has with a country and divided it by the exports the country has sent to the U.S. Also, because Trump said he was being 'kind,' the final tariff rate was then cut in half. 'South Korea, with which we have a trade agreement, is not charging a 50% tariff on U.S. exports. Nor is the EU charging a 39% tariff,' Surowiecki noted, adding: 'What extraordinary nonsense this is.' He also pointed out that wherever the United States had a trade deficit of less than 10 percent with a country, or even a surplus, a tariff rate of 10 percent was still imposed. With the U.S. stock markets opening to an absolute bloodbath on Thursday morning, Liesman and the other hosts at the business news network were beside themselves over the damage already being caused by the president's sweeping global tariffs. 'They're burning down the house to cook a steak,' Squawk on the Street anchor Carl Quintanilla said at one point. 'Calling these reciprocal is not really accurate,' David Faber added while Jim Cramer raged: 'I cannot think of another president in my lifetime who could knock down the stock market simply by opening his mouth than Jimmy Carter. Eureka! I have found him!' Meanwhile, Liesman was brought on to discuss how the administration came up with the numbers for their import tax rates, and he didn't mince words over just how absurd the president's approach was. Recounting his confusion over Trump's Rose Garden presentation, the network's senior economics reporter noted that he was soon inundated with questions over where Trump came up with his rates. 'I get off set, and I start getting emails from the economists and the international trade experts I know, and they're like, what the heck are those numbers? And nobody really understood where those numbers came from,' Liesman stated before referencing Surowiecki cracking the code. 'Now let me show you a comment from the White House on where this came from,' Liesman declared. 'White House official telling reporters yesterday, 'I want to emphasize here that these tariffs are customized to each country, and the numbers have been calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers using very, very well-established methodologies from the international trade economic literature.'' He continued: 'So then I started calling international trade economic experts. And nobody ever heard of this formula. Nobody has ever used this formula. So I'm sorry, but the conclusion seems to be that the president kind of made this up as he went along. He made it up.' Liesman went on to explain that while there had been anticipation that Trump's tariffs would be 'reciprocal,' they turned out to be "off the charts and nowhere near what other countries charge us.' He also pointed out that this makes the United States perhaps the 'highest tariff country in at least the developed world,' resulting in the massive market sell-off on Thursday. 'You guys have been talking about all of the downgrades. I don't have a single…forecaster saying because of these tariffs, we are forecasting more U.S. growth, more employment, and lower inflation,' he concluded. 'Every, every forecaster is the opposite: Lower growth, higher inflation, less employment.'
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The Independent
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
CNBC reporter trashes Trump for ‘made-up' tariff rates: ‘Nobody ever heard of this formula!'
CNBC reporter Steve Liesman assailed Donald Trump on Thursday for the 'made-up' way his administration calculated the 'Liberation Day' tariffs, which the president claimed were reciprocal rates based on how much other nations were charging the United States. While the president made little mention of the methodology behind the calculations, which he unveiled on a giant poster in the Rose Garden, financial journalist James Surowiecki quickly deduced that the White House merely took the trade deficit America has with a country and divided it by the exports the country has sent to the U.S. Also, because Trump said he was being 'kind,' the final tariff rate was then cut in half. 'South Korea, with which we have a trade agreement, is not charging a 50% tariff on U.S. exports. Nor is the EU charging a 39% tariff,' Surowiecki noted, adding: 'What extraordinary nonsense this is.' He also pointed out that wherever the United States had a trade deficit of less than 10 percent with a country, or even a surplus, a tariff rate of 10 percent was still imposed. With the U.S. stock markets opening to an absolute bloodbath on Thursday morning, Liesman and the other hosts at the business news network were beside themselves over the damage already being caused by the president's sweeping global tariffs. 'They're burning down the house to cook a steak,' Squawk on the Street anchor Carl Quintanilla said at one point. 'Calling these reciprocal is not really accurate,' David Faber added while Jim Cramer raged: 'I cannot think of another president in my lifetime who could knock down the stock market simply by opening his mouth than Jimmy Carter. Eureka! I have found him!' Meanwhile, Liesman was brought on to discuss how the administration came up with the numbers for their import tax rates, and he didn't mince words over just how absurd the president's approach was. Recounting his confusion over Trump's Rose Garden presentation, the network's senior economics reporter noted that he was soon inundated with questions over where Trump came up with his rates. 'I get off set, and I start getting emails from the economists and the international trade experts I know, and they're like, what the heck are those numbers? And nobody really understood where those numbers came from,' Liesman stated before referencing Surowiecki cracking the code. 'Now let me show you a comment from the White House on where this came from,' Liesman declared. 'White House official telling reporters yesterday, 'I want to emphasize here that these tariffs are customized to each country, and the numbers have been calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers using very, very well-established methodologies from the international trade economic literature.'' He continued: 'So then I started calling international trade economic experts. And nobody ever heard of this formula. Nobody has ever used this formula. So I'm sorry, but the conclusion seems to be that the president kind of made this up as he went along. He made it up.' Liesman went on to explain that while there had been anticipation that Trump's tariffs would be 'reciprocal,' they turned out to be "off the charts and nowhere near what other countries charge us.' He also pointed out that this makes the United States perhaps the 'highest tariff country in at least the developed world,' resulting in the massive market sell-off on Thursday. 'You guys have been talking about all of the downgrades. I don't have a single…forecaster saying because of these tariffs, we are forecasting more U.S. growth, more employment, and lower inflation,' he concluded. 'Every, every forecaster is the opposite: Lower growth, higher inflation, less employment.'
