Trump insists economy will emerge ‘stronger’, Macron says US will be ‘weaker and poorer’

Donald Trump said the US economy would emerge ‘far stronger’ after tariffs, as Emmanuel Macron called for a suspension of investment in the US.

Donald Trump appears on a television screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany on April 3. Picture: AP /Michael Probst

Donald Trump has acknowledged the shock brought by his tariffs onslaught ,but said the US economy would emerge “far stronger,” even as world markets tumbled.

Taking to his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump compared his global tariff plan to a medical operation, telling Americans that the economy was “healing”.

“THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING. THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform less than an hour before Wall Street opened for trading.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also tried to reassure US markets, telling CNN: “To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say, ‘Trust in President Trump.’ This is a president who is doubling down on his proven economic formula.”

She said the tariffs -- which include 10 percent across the board levies on imports and far steeper barriers on dozens of specific countries, including the top US trading partners -- meant “the United States is no longer going to be cheated by foreign nations.”

Ms Leavitt appeared to rule out the possibility of Mr Trump pulling back any of the tariffs before they are implemented over the coming weekend.

“The president made it clear yesterday this is not a negotiation,” she said. “He’s always willing to pick up the phone to answer calls, but he laid out the case yesterday for why we are doing it,” she said.

“These countries around the world have had 70 years to do the right thing by the American people and they have chosen not to. They have ripped off American workers. They have taken our jobs overseas. The president is putting an end to that yesterday.”

Emmanuel Macron n said Americans will be “weaker and poorer” after Donald Trump’s tariff announcement. Picture: AFP

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a suspension of investment in the US until Mr Trump’s “brutal and unfounded” new tariffs against Europe and the rest of the world were clarified.

“Future investments, investments announced in the last weeks, should be suspended for a time for as long as the situation with the United States is not clarified,” Mr Macron told a meeting of French companies also attended by French ministers and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.

“What would be the message if big European actors invest billions of euros in the US economy at the very moment they are hitting us?” he asked.

Mr Macron said Americans will be “weaker and poorer” after Mr Trump’s tariff announcement, which he described as “brutal and unfounded” and would have a “massive impact” on the European economy.

He also called on Europe to stand together in terms of their response, warning against any unilateral action.

Europeans “need to remain united and determined in this phase. And I say this also because I know what can happen -- the biggest players have a tendency to go it alone, and

that’s not a good idea,” he said.

France, with sectors ranging from aerospace to luxury goods to wine risking taking a hit, has always insisted that such retaliation against tariffs needs to come from the EU and not from individual states.

Mr Macron reaffirmed the French government’s position that a “European response” would come in “two stages.”

“The first response will take place in mid-April and will address the tariffs already decided, particularly on steel and aluminium,” he said.

“The second, more massive response, to the tariffs announced yesterday (Wednesday), will take place at the end of the month after a detailed study, sector by sector, and work with all member states and economic sectors,” he said.

His comments followed Mr Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in which he unveiled a broad swathe of new levies affecting all US trading partners, including a 20 percent tariff for the European Union.