Trump says it could take 2 years before tariffs result in American manufacturing boom
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As markets nosedived and foreign allies recoiled after the unveiling of sweeping tariffs to be imposed by the U.S., President Donald Trump said he was looking toward the future impact of his levies.
In the case of manufacturing growth, a key administration interest in imposing a 10% levy on all trade partners and significantly higher tariffs on certain nations such as China, Trump said it could take years.
“Let’s say it’s a two-year process,” Trump said when asked by a reporter on Thursday how long it will take to get the industry where he wants to see it.
“You know, they start a plant, and they’re big plants We’re giving them approval to also, in many cases, to build the electric facility with it,” he continued. “So, you have electric generation and the plant, and they’re big plants. Now, the good news is a lot of money for them, and they can build them fast, but they’re still very big plants. I’d always say it would take a year-and-a-half to two years.”
Meanwhile, Trump brushed off concerns about the short-term pain economists expect to be passed on to American consumers.
“It’s to be expected where this is a patient that was very sick,” Trump said, comparing his economic policies to surgery.
“It’s going to be a booming country, a very booming country,” the president said.
Trump’s tariff plan, announced in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, includes a baseline 10% tariff against all U.S. trade partners and steeper, more targeted levies against nations that place duties on U.S. imports.
Jay Timmons, the chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers, released a statement on Wednesday night criticizing the rollout.
“Needless to say, today’s announcement was complicated, and manufacturers are scrambling to determine the exact implications for their operations,” Timmons said.
Timmons, who oversees the country’s largest manufacturing trade association, said the administration should instead make inputs that manufacturers use to produce products in the U.S. tariff-free and try to negotiate “zero-for-zero” tariffs for American-made goods in foreign markets.
“The stakes for manufacturers could not be higher,” he said. “Many manufacturers in the United States already operate with thin margins,” he added, and “the high costs of new tariffs threaten investment, jobs, supply chains and, in turn, America’s ability to outcompete other nations and lead as the preeminent manufacturing superpower.”
Fallout continued on Friday to Trump’s tariff plan. China hit back with retaliatory tariffs of their own: a 34% levy on all U.S. goods. Markets slipped further in early trading, after recording their worst day since June 2020 on Thursday.
Trump on Thursday signaled an openness to negotiation, despite White House officials throughout the day denying any chance of bargaining on the tariffs.
Then on Friday morning, Trump appeared to only double down, writing on his social media site: “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”
(MADISON, WI) — A closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court election takes center stage as Republican-backed Brad Schimel and Democratic-backed Susan Crawford are set to debate on Wednesday, locked in a race for a seat that is technically nonpartisan but has become the center of a political firestorm.
The April 1 election will determine which of the candidates, vying to replace retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, will help determine the ideological bent of the court, which currently leans liberal. The winner will join the bench as the court grapples with hot-button issues such as abortion access and redistricting.
The race could also preview how voters in the battleground state feel a few months into President Donald Trump’s second term.
“They’re using it as a test as to President Trump’s popularity,” Janine Geske, a law professor at Marquette University and a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, told ABC News. “He took Wisconsin in the election. And the question is, how will this election go?”
The debate, hosted by ABC affiliate WISN-TV and the Marquette University Law School, will air online and on ABC News affiliates across Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Central time on Wednesday.
Schimel, the candidate backed by Republicans, is a former state attorney general who is a circuit court judge in Waukesha County.
“I got in this race 16 months before Election Day because I recognize … you gotta meet voters where they are,” Schimel told WISN in February.
Crawford, backed by Democrats, is a Dane County circuit court judge and a former private attorney. She at points represented Democratic-aligned groups such as Planned Parenthood, an organization supporting abortion access.
“I have spent a lot of time talking about my record, my background as a prosecutor, as a lawyer representing people in court and standing up for their rights,” Crawford told WISN in February.
Over $40 million has been spent on ad reservations, both aired already and for future reservations, in the race, according to advertisement tracking firm AdImpact. (Recent polling from the Marquette University Law School showed a sizable percentage of voters do not have an opinion on either candidate.)
The election is also seen as one indication of Elon Musk’s influence beyond Washington, where he has overseen major cuts to the federal government.
A conservative group affiliated with Musk, Building America’s Future, has spent more than $1.6 million on television ads in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, while another one Musk backs, America PAC, has spent over $6 million on get-out-the-vote efforts and digital media, according to state campaign finance records. The expenditures are marked as either opposing Crawford or supporting Schimel.
Musk himself has not weighed in much directly about the race, but he posted on X last month urging people to “vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!” Schimel has said he has never spoken to Musk and told reporters in February, “I don’t have any agenda that I’m working alongside anyone.”
These groups’ investment in the race has sparked pushback from Democrats.
“Wisconsin voters don’t like Elon Musk running our federal government and they don’t want him buying elections in Wisconsin either,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement on Monday.
Crawford’s own support has not been free of scrutiny. Schimel and his supporters have pointed to major donors seemingly supporting Crawford, including liberal billionaire George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat. According to state campaign finance records, those individuals donated to the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and the state party has donated $2 million to Crawford.
Crawford has said she has made no promises to any donors and has also emphasized her independence.
While this election is being eyed nationally as the first major race of 2025, experts and supporters of either candidate say it also could have major impacts for the state of Wisconsin, including on issues such as redistricting, voting rights and abortion access.
For example, there is a Wisconsin Supreme Court case regarding if the Wisconsin Constitution protects the right to an abortion, which the court might consider after the new justice is seated.
Wisconsin has an 1849 statute on the books that would effectively limit all abortions in the state, although the law is not enforced.
If the court were to determine in a different case that the statute is still in effect and later that abortion access is not protected by the Wisconsin Constitution, it could mean abortion is determined illegal in Wisconsin, Chad Oldfather, another law professor at Marquette University, told ABC News.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Schimel had previously indicated support for leaving the 1849 law in place. More recently, Schimel told WISN that on abortion access cases, “I treasure life even when it’s not planned, but I respect that the law puts this in the hands of voters, and I will respect their will. … [My] personal opinions? No, they don’t have any role.”
Crawford, on her end, told WISN she has made no promises to any abortion access advocacy groups but said she is proud of the work she did as a lawyer “fighting for people’s rights,” including when representing Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Women Speak Out PAC, a group that is affiliated with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a group that opposes abortion access, launched canvassers and volunteers to get out the vote for Schimel. SBA has made a six-figure investment in the race.
“Lives are literally on the line in this race, and they depend upon Wisconsin voters showing up for Brad Schimel. … If Schimel doesn’t win, the court will be a tool of the Left,” Kelsey Pritchard, political communications director for SBA, told ABC News in an interview.
EMILY’s List, a political group that supports female candidates who support abortion access, has donated to Crawford and ran a digital fundraising campaign to encourage others to donate.
“As Trump, MAGA Republicans, and unelected billionaires like Elon Musk try to rip away the freedoms we’ve fought so hard for, electing Judge Susan Crawford to the Wisconsin state Supreme Court means protecting these rights that are under attack,” EMILY’s List President Jessica Mackler said in a statement to ABC News.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Soorin Kim and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In a late-night Friday move, President Donald Trump fired at least 17 independent watchdogs — known as inspectors general — at multiple federal agencies, sources familiar with the move told ABC News.
The conversations about ousting these government watchdogs began during Trump’s transition back to the White House.
While inspectors general can be fired by the president — it can only happen after communicating with Congress 30 days in advance and in 2022 Congress strengthened the law requiring administrations to give a detailed reasoning for the firing of an IG.
There isn’t yet have a complete list of all the IG’s impacted, but at least one high-profile watchdog — Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz — did not receive notice that he was fired as of yesterday evening.
Horowitz is an Obama appointee and has issued reports that have been critical of both the Trump and Biden administrations.
The current law also mandates that any acting IG’s must come from within the IG community, though it’s unclear whether the Trump White House believes they need to follow that aspect of the law.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told ABC News earlier this week that the president must tell Congress before removal.
“First of all to remind that our Inspector General can’t be removed from office until the president, and that’s any president, not just Trump. So this is a message to all these presidents you’ve got to tell Congress a month ahead of time the reasons for removing them,” Grassley said.
He added, “And the other thing is that inspector generals are expected to be independent of political pressure, independent of the head of the agency, and to make sure that the law is enforced and money spent appropriately, and there shouldn’t be any political pressure against any of his work.”
Grassley said Saturday that Congress was not given the required 30-day notice.
“There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so. I’d like further explanation from President Trump,” Grassley said in a statement given to ABC News. “Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress.”
In floor remarks Saturday morning, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer ripped into the Trump administration for the move, saying that the dismissals are a possible violation of federal law.
“These firings are Donald Trump’s way of telling us he is terrified of accountability and is hostile to facts and to transparency,” Schumer said.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst launched a bipartisan IG caucus just ten days ago.
(WASHINGTON) — Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, the Republican candidate in Tuesday’s special U.S. House election for the seat vacated by former Rep. Mike Waltz, said on ABC News Live on Monday that doesn’t think be breaks with President Donald Trump on policies.
“I don’t think so,” Fine told ABC News Live anchor Diane Macedo when asked if he disagrees with Trump on anything.
“I mean, look, I was the second Florida legislator to endorse [Trump] over Gov. [Ron] DeSantis [in the 2024 presidential primaries] … And so no, I mean, I believe in the America First agenda and the Donald Trump agenda. And more importantly, I think that when you have a team captain, you have to support the team,” Fine said.
Fine’s race is one of a pair of special elections for the U.S. House in Florida on Tuesday that might have an impact on the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives.
While the Republicans are favored to win in each district — given that both districts were ruby-red in 2024 — some have speculated that the margin between the Republicans and Democrats in each district could be tighter than anticipated, and voices within the Republican Party have raised concerns over Fine’s campaign. Fine and his allies, including President Donald Trump, have maintained he has momentum.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
